,  CIVIC 
CHRISTIANITY 


BY 

WILLIAM  PRALL,  S.T.  D.,  PH.  D 

RECTOR  OF  ST.  JOHN's  CHURCH,  DETROIT,  MICH. 


% 


NEW-YORK 
THOMAS  WHITTAKER 

2  AND  3   BIBLE  HOUSE 
1895 


|A 


^ 


Copyright,  1895, 

by 

Thomas  Whittaker. 


TO   THE 

Key.  JAMES  EANKINE,  D.D., 

Rector  of  the  De  Lancey  Divinity  School, 

Geneva,  N.  Y., 

this  little  book  is  dedicated  with  affectionate  regard. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2007  witli  funding  from 

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PREFACE. 

The  following  sermons,  with  one  exception, 
were  written  for  and  preached  to  my  parishion- 
ers in  St.  John's  Church,  Detroit.  Some  of  them 
have  appeared  in  full  or  in  part  in  the  Church- 
man^ in  the  Detroit  Free  Press,  and  in  other 
journals.  I  have  been  asked  so  often  for  copies 
that  I  have  determined  to  put  the  seimons  in 
permanent  shape  and  form.  I  do  this  for  the 
gratification  of  my  parishioners,  and  also  with 
a  hope  that  what  I  have  said  on  the  subjects 
treated  may  incite  others  to  speak  on  them.  At 
best  I  have  only  touched  upon  the  hem  of  sev- 
eral things.  There  is  much  more  that  can  much 
better  be  said  on  Civic  Christianity.  It  does 
not  seem  to  me  that  it  is  necessary  to  mention 
the  sources  whence  I  have  gotten  a  phrase  or  an 
idea;  nor  is  it  possible  to  do  so.  As  these  ser- 
mons were  prepared  under  constant  pressure 
of  the  administration  of  a  parish,  and  without 
thought,  at  the  time  of  the  preparation  of  the  ma- 
jority of  them,  of  publication,  the  sources  were 


vl  PEEFACE. 

not  noted.  I  wish,  however,  to  make  an  ac- 
knowledgment to  the  Rev.  Hugh  Price  Hughes, 
of  London,  England,  for  some  thoughts  in  my 
sermon  "  Christ  and  the  Multitudes." 

W.P. 

St.  Johk's  Rectory,  Detroit, 
January,  1895. 


COKTEKTS. 


PAGE 

I.  The  Marks  op  the  Messiah 1 

II.  Christ  and  the  Multitudes 20 

III.  The  Alienation  op  the  Masses 34 

IV.  The  Education  op  the  Young 49 

V.  The  Prevention  op  Crime  and  the  Repormation 

op  Criminals 69 

VI.  "  Common  Honesty  " 89 

VII.  The  Sin  op  Gossip 106 

VIII.  Good  Citizenship 120 

IX.  Good  Government 137 

X.  The  Social  Evil  and  the  Low  Saloon 157 

XI.  The  Cross  the  Resolvent  op  Dippiculties 178 

XII.  No  Vision,  No  People 192 


THE  MAEKS  OF  THE  MESSIAH.* 

"  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Go  and  show  John  again 
those  things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see :  the  blind  receive  their 
sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf 
hear,  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  gospel 
preached  to  them." — Matt.  xi.  4,  5. 

This  is  the  message  that  Jesus  sent  to  John 
when  the  Baptist  sent  his  disciples  to  inquire 
whether  He  were  the  Messiah  or  not.  It  seems 
strange,  at  first  sight,  that  John  should  have 
made  any  inquiries  of  Jesus,  in  view  of  such 
proof  as  he  had  had  that  Jesus  was  indeed  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  on  that  day  when  Jesus 
came  to  be  baptized  of  him  in  Jordan;  yet  a 
moment's  reflection  will  show  us  that,  simple  as 
the  Baptist  was  in  his  views  of  life,  it  would  be 
but  natural  for  him  to  expect  another  than  Jesus 
to  come.  He  would  naturally,  I  say,  associate 
the  Messiah  with  the  Israelitish  dream  of  the 
Messianic  kingdom.    It  is  true  of  us  all,  we  are 

*  Preached  before  the  graduating  class  of  Hobart  College,  1892. 

1 


2  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

never  far  away  from  tlie  thought  of  our  times. 
John's  question,  too,  was  that  which  can  always 
be  asked — always,  I  mean,  with  propriety.  It 
was  the  open  question,  "Art  thou  He  that  should 
come,  or  do  we  look  for  another!"  It  showed 
no  prejudice. 

And  what  were  the  proofs,  the  marks  of  the 
Messiah,  to  which  Jesus  pointed  ?  What  things, 
in  other  words,  were  they  which  distinguished 
the  new  from  the  old  Adam  I  How  simple  they 
are!  Not  some  vague  portents,  not  some  as- 
tounding wonders,  not  some  esoteric  doctrines, 
but  what?  Some  simple  acts  of  mercy:  "The 
blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the 
lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are 
raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached 
to  them."  These  are  all ;  and  yet,  simple  as  they 
are,  what  a  difference  do  they  mark  between  the 
old  and  the  new  way  of  living !  How  significant 
are  they  of  the  whole  history  of  Christianity! 
The  doing  of  good  to  poor,  diseased  humanity; 
the  pointing  to  a  life  beyond  the  grave;  the 
showing  to  the  toiling,  suffering  poor  that  the 
good  tidings  of  salvation  are  for  them  as  well  as 
for  the  handful  of  rich  and  powerful  who  usurped 
all  the  opportunities  and  possessions  of  life  in 


THE  MARKS  OF   THE  MESSIAH.  3 

the  ancient  world — all  this  was  to  draw  a  line  of 
demarcation  between  unregenerate  and  regen- 
erate humanity,  between  the  classical  and  Chris- 
tian civilizations,  as  clear  as  the  line  of  the  equa- 
tor is  drawn.  And  mark,  just  as,  although  the 
line  of  the  equator  is  drawn  upon  the  earth,  we 
pass  insensibly  from  one  hemisphere  to  the  other, 
so  do  we  pass  imperceptibly  from  the  old  civil- 
ization into  the  new.  It  is  only  gradually  that 
things  change. 

The  answer  of  our  Lord  to  the  Baptist  is  two- 
fold. He  bids  John's  disciples  tell  him  of  His 
works  and  of  His  words ;  but  His  works  and  His 
words  were  directed  to  one  single  end :  the  doing 
of  good  to  mankind,  and  especially  to  the  un- 
fortunate sons  of  men.  Yet  those  who  witnessed 
the  things  that  Jesus  spoke  of,  i.e..  His  works 
and  His  words  of  mercy,  must  have  seen  that  His 
miraculous  powers  were  circumscribed  in  this 
sphere  of  action.  He  did  not  make  all  the  blind 
to  see,  all  the  deaf  to  hear,  all  the  lame  to  walk, 
He  did  not  cleanse  all  the  lepers,  He  did  not  raise 
all  the  dead.  He  did  not  preach  the  gospel  to  all 
the  poor :  how  can  you  account  for  this  ?  Why, 
easily  enough !  Jesus  did  not  come  to  do  all  the 
work  of  all  humanity.     He  came  to  show  man- 


4  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY, 

kind  the  way  to  do  the  works  of  man  for  men. 
He  set  us  all  our  tasks  to  do.  He  started  the 
world  along  the  way  of  a  better  civilization,  but 
He  only  started  it. 

Do  you  not  perceive  that  what  Christ  did  was 
to  change  the  centre  of  ethics  I  Previous  to  His 
coming  the  centre  of  ethics  had  been  self;  he 
made  it  others.  He  sent  self  revolving  around 
others;  others  shorfld  no  more  revolve  around 
self.  And  just  as  when  Copernicus  discovered 
that  the  centre  of  our  system  is  not  the  earth, 
but  the  sun,  the  earth  did  not  stop,  but  went  on 
its  way  rejoicing,  so  was  it  when  Christ  changed 
the  centre  of  ethics.  His  followers  have  gone 
along  their  way — His  way — but  oh,  what  a  change 
there  has  been  in  their  conception  of  themselves, 
of  others!  It  was  but  a  simple  thing  that  the 
Messiah  did ;  yes,  but  see  how  far-reaching  it  is 
in  its  results ;  and  it  will  reach  ever  farther  and 
farther,  like  the  change  from  the  Ptolemaic  to 
the  Copernican  system,  down  the  avenues  of 
time  into  eternity,  unto  God. 

And  so  we  perceive  that  Christ,  when  He  died, 
finished  His  work,  but  He  left  work  for  all  men 
to  do — a  work  to  humanize  mankind ;  that  would 
make  it  better,  both  actively  and  reflectively. 


THE  MiUiKS  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  5 

For  this  is  the  perfection  of  the  work  done  for 
others :  we  help  them,  and  we  help  ourselves  in 
helping  them ;  for  we  can  do  good  to  others  only 
through  our  love  for  them ;  and  the  more  we  love 
them  the  more  are  we  possessed  of  love;  the 
more  closely  do  we  make  ourselves  resemble  His 
image,  in  which  we  were  created. 

My  friends,  have  you  ever  fully  perceived  the 
meaning  of  the  summary  that  Christ  made  of  the 
law  and  the  prophets  I  I  ask  because  I  am  only 
just  beginning  to  realize  its  meaning  myself. 
This  summary  that  Christ  made  is  as  bold  as  it 
is  transcendental.  No  mere  human  teacher  would 
ever  have  ventured  to  reduce  all  religion  to  two 
simple  statements ;  and  especially  would  no  mere 
human  teacher  have  ventured  to  place  man's  duty 
to  love  and  to  serve  his  fellows  on  an  equality 
with  his  duty  to  love  and  to  serve  his  God.  And 
yet  this  is  just  what  Christ  did  in  His  words,  even 
as  He  showed  by  His  works.  Aye,  more ;  He,  as 
the  Son  of  God,  showed  men  that  the  works  of 
God  are  the  works  of  man.  Was  He  not  both  1 
He  showed  us  that  to  love  God  was  to  love  man. 

Listen  to  a  resume  of  all  the  law  and  of  all  the 
prophets:  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  tliy  soul,  and  with 


6  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

all  thy  mind.  This  is  the  first  and  gi-eat  com- 
mandment. And  the  second  is  like  unto  it  (of 
like  import),  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself."  You  see,  then,  why  it  was  that  Jesus 
points  out  to  John's  disciples  that  the  blind  see, 
the  deaf  hear,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the 
poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them.  It  was 
necessary  that  men  should  see  by  Christ's  example 
who  their  neighbors  are;  how  it  is  that  they  should 
love  them.  You  see  it  all  !  The  second  Adam, 
the  Messiah,  showed  John's  disciples  that  his 
gospel  was  not  something  simply  for  the  cultured 
and  leisured — a  philosophy,  a  theology — but  that 
it  was  a  way  of  life  for  men ;  the  doing  of  acts  of 
mercy  to  the  unfortunate,  the  showing  unto  the 
poor  of  the  world  that  God's  love  is  over  them 
equally,  as  man's  love  should  go  out  to  them. 

We  perceive,  then,  why  it  is  that  the  gospel 
should  be  especially  for  the  poor ;  but  let  us  ask 
ourselves,  What  is  poverty?  I  have  in  a  mea- 
sure answered  the  question ;  but  I  think  we  can 
give  a  technical  answer  by  saying  that  poverty 
is  deprivation,  and  that  it  is  synonymous  with 
human  imperfection.  Man,  we  must  believe, 
when  he  was  created  in  God's  image,  was  made 
to  be  strong ;  but  when  sin  came,  and  the  seeds 


THE  MAKKS  OF   THE  MESSIAH.  J 

of  death  through  sin,  he  became  weak.  To  a 
certain  extent  all  men  are  poor,  i.e.,  they  are  not 
as  strong  as  they  ought  to  be ;  but  on  this  thought 
I  do  not  wish  to  dwell.  By  the  side  of  those 
whom,  relativelj^,  we  call  strong,  there  are  the 
positively  weak ;  and  these,  deprived  as  they  are 
of  their  relative  powers,  are  poor. 

You  perceive  what  I  mean :  it  is  the  blind  and 
the  deaf  and  the  lame  and  the  diseased  who  are 
in  the  first  instance  poor;  and  these  it  is  who, 
not  being  able  to  contend  with  the  strong  for 
the  possessions  of  the  earth,  become  poorer  and 
poorer;  who,  unless  they  are  relieved  by  the 
strong,  sink  at  last  into  misery;  "the  destruc- 
tion of  the  poor"  becomes  in  very  deed  "their 
poverty." 

Why,  it  is  patent  to  all,  the  life  of  mankind 
on  the  earth  is  a  life  of  struggle  with  nature. 
And  this  we  perceive,  not  only  when  we  look 
into  God's  written  records,  but  when  we  look 
into  the  unwiitten  records  of  the  rocks.  "Re- 
plenish the  earth,  and  subdue  it,"  was  God's  first 
command  to  man.  It  is  just  in  proportion  as 
man  subdues  the  earth  and  wrests  from  it  its 
treasures,  that  he  develops  his  strength,  that  he 
becomes  civilized,  that  he  secures  the  necessary 


8  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

comforts  of  life.  But  all  men  are  not  equally- 
fitted  for  a  struggle  with  the  earth ;  all  men  are 
not  equally  fitted  for  a  struggle  with  one  another ; 
all  have  not  the  gift  of  acquisition,  and  many 
who  have  are  too  poor  to  obtain  the  opportunities 
of  exercising  this  gift.  The  strong  in  body  and 
in  mind  enter  in,  and  they  elbow  out  the  weak. 
Aye,  so  gi*eedy  are  they  that  they  scarcely  leave 
to  the  weak,  the  poor,  the  gleanings  of  the  earth's 
fair  fields.  It  is  true  they  often  consent,  after 
they  have  obtained  the  lion's  share  of  the  good 
things  of  the  world,  to  make  some  short  division 
of  their  possessions  to  those  who  have  not  the 
gift  of  acquisition ;  but  as  a  usual  thing  it  is  only 
to  those  who  minister  to  their  comforts  or  to 
their  pride ;  it  is  rarely  to  the  poor,  except  only 
in  so  far  as  the  love  of  God  and  of  man  con- 
strains them. 

And  note,  it  is  precisely  on  this  account  that 
the  laws  of  inheritance  were  made,  i.e.,  that  the 
strong  made  rules  to  protect  inheritance.  In 
case  of  their  deaths,  what  would  their  weak 
women  and  children  do  if  they  had  to  struggle 
for  existence!  How  soon  would  they  be  num- 
bered among  the  poor!  Now,  there  is  enough 
of  the  good  things  of  the  earth  for  all,  and  more 


THE  MARKS  OF   THE  MESSIAH.  9 

than  enough;  but  the  strong  take  more  than 
their  share — gtye,  in  many  cases  they  take  all — 
and  the  poor  get  only  what  is  doled  out  to  them, 
or  what  the  state,  with  its  stronger  hand,  forces 
the  strong  to  give  up  by  means  of  taxation.  Do 
not  think  that  this  is  exaggeration.  Look  into 
the  history  of  the  poor  laws  of  England.  We 
are  apt  to  think  that  these  laws  were  passed  be- 
cause of  kindness,  of  charity;  but  the  truth  is, 
they  were  passed  by  the  pressure  of  necessity. 
After  the  monasteries  had  been  sequestered,  and 
the  common  lands  had  been  fenced  in  by  the 
strong,  the  weak  would  have  died  of  starvation 
unless  these  laws  had  been  enacted.  ,4^  ^^ 
gi'eatly  had  the  strong  oppressed  the  weak  that 
it  was  made  a  felony  to  appropriate  the  things 
that  nature  provided  on  the  earth — the  game  and 
the  fish.  The  gleaning  of  the  fields  was  unheard 
of.  The  poor  we  shall  always  have  with  us,  but 
surely  there  is  no  necessity  for  the  abject  poor. 
O  beloved!  have  you  ever  stopped  to  think 
what  this  word  "poverty"  means?  I  am  not 
speaking  now  of  the  poverty  of  respectability — 
though  that  is  hard  enough  to  bear — but  of  the 
poverty  of  wasted  life ;  of  the  failure  of  aspira- 
tions ;  of  degi'adation.     Do  you  ever  think  that 


10  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

there  are  many  who,  weak  in  the  power  of  ac- 
quisition by  reason  of  some  physical  or  mental 
infirmity,  or  weak  through  sickness  or  thi'ough 
another's  misfortune,  have  often  energies  that 
might  have  been  spent  in  making  life  beautiful, 
which  must  be  exerted  in  making  it  barely  sup- 
portable ;  many  who  have  capacities  for  pleasure 
that  would  have  sought  rightful  vent,  which  have 
often  been  turned  into  the  ways  of  wantonness? 
I  speak  to  you  of  want,  of  ignorance,  of  shame, 
of  crime.  God  only  knows  the  temptations  of 
the  poor. 

And  this — this  state  of  affairs — seems  to  be  a 
component  part  of  our  boasted  nineteenth-cen- 
tury civilization.  I  was  struck — and  you  cannot 
but  be  struck — with  the  recent  encyclical  of  the 
Pope ;  and  I  quote  his  words,  because  the  Pope, 
whatever  may  be  the  errors  of  the  Roman  Church, 
speaks  for  one  half  of  Western  Christendom: 
/  "  All  agi'ee — and  there  can  be  no  question  what- 
ever— that  some  remedy  must  be  found,  and 
quickly  found,  for  the  misery  and  wi*etchedness 
which  press  so  heavily  at  this  moment  on  the 
large  majority  of  the  very  poor.  ,  .  .  By  degrees 
it  has  come  to  pass  that  working-men  have  been 
given  over,  isolated  and  defenseless,  to  the  cal- 


THE  MARKS  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  H 

lousness  of  employers  and  the  greed  of  unre- 
strained competition.  The  evil  has  been  in- 
creased by  rapacious  usury.  .  .  .  And  to  this 
must  be  added  the  custom  of  working  by  con- 
tract, and  the  concentration  of  so  many  branches 
of  trade  in  the  hands  of  a  few  individuals,  so 
that  a  small  number  of  very  rich  men  have  been 
able  to  lay  upon  the  masses  of  the  poor  a  yoke 
little  better  than  slavery  itself."  -^ 

But  what  are  we  going  to  do  about  this  state 
of  affairs?  We  cannot  cure  it  by  making  poor 
laws,  we  cannot  regulate  it  by  doling  out  food 
and  clothing ;  these  means  have  been  tried,  and 
have  failed.  Laws  which  would  strike  at  the 
bottom  of  the  evil  would  be  of  use  if  they  could 
be  put  in  force.  The  doling  out  of  alms  must  be 
resorted  to  in  especial  cases;  but  what  are  we 
going  to  do  about  this  state  of  aff aii's  ? 

Fu'st,  however,  let  me  say  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  understand  Christ's  work  on  earth 
unless  we  perceived  that  He  came  not  to  do  all 
the  work  of  humanity ;  unless  we  perceived  that 
He  came  to  show  mankind  what  work  it  had  to 
do.  You  see  what  is  meant:  Christ  laid  down 
general  rules  for  the  government  of  conduct ;  but 
these  rules,  though  general,  are  applicable  to  each 


12  CIVIC  CHEISTIANITY. 

individual  man.  It  is  for  the  individually  strong 
men  and  women  to  act  when  there  is  wrong  and 
injustice  done.  It  is  for  them  to  help  and  pro- 
tect the  individually  weak. 

But  mark,  I  do  not  mean  that  the  individu- 
ally strong  men  and  women  should  merely  seek 
out  in  the  streets  of  their  city  some  abject  cases 
of  poverty  and  care  for  them,  but  that  they  should 
have  a  care  for  all  those  with  whom  they  come 
in  daily  contact.  And  if  all  the  individually 
strong  would  do  this  the  present  state  of  affairs 
would  speedily  change.  We  would  have  the  poor 
>vith  us,  but  they  would  be  only  the  poor  of  mis- 
fortune or  of  ineradicable  wickedness.  The  mis- 
ery which  presses  so  heavily  upon  the  masses  of 
the  poor  would  disappear  like  darkness  at  the 
approach  of  light. 

But  how  are  we  to  set  to  work  to  remedy  this 
state  of  affairs?  Well,  in  the  first  place,  some- 
thing can  be  done  by  legislation.  Sanitary  laws 
can  be  enacted  and  enforced;  the  relations  of 
landlord  and  tenant  can  be  revised  and  modified ; 
the  liquor  traffic  can  be  disciplined  and  regu- 
lated; speculation  in  food  can  be  prohibited; 
traffic-rates  can  be  equalized  for  all  shippers; 
taxation  can  be  imposed  on  the  unearned  in- 


THE  MARKS  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  I3 

crement  in  lands — but  all  these  things  will  be 
useless  unless  we  get  individual  men  and  women 
to  consent  that  they  are  right ;  unless  we  make 
them,  as  individuals,  to  endeavor  to  carry  them 
into  effect. 

And  thus  we  see  that  we  must  appeal  to  the 
individual  conscience.  You  see  what  I  mean: 
we  must  show  men  what  it  was  that  Christ  did. 
We  must  show  them  how  He  helped  the  individ- 
uals who  came  to  Him;  how  He  changed  the 
centre  of  ethics,  and  made  others,  not  self,  the 
pivot  of  His  system — of  that  system  which  all 
men  pronounce  to  be  the  greatest  marvel  of  the 
life  of -the  soul  of  man.  And  you  will  find  that 
men  will  generally  agree  to  this,  i.e.,  that  altruism 
and  not  egoism  is  the  best  rule  of  conduct.  The 
trouble  will  be  to  get  them  to  practise  it  as  a 
rule,  and  not  to  regard  it  as  a  theory. 

Ah !  my  friends,  do  you  not  see  ?  Would  to 
God  that  all  men  would  see  that  there  is  in  pov- 
erty an  opportunity  for  the  strong  to  do  the  work 
of  regeneration ;  that  the  law  of  the  new  man  is 
the  law  of  help  to  men,  even  as  it  is  the  law  of 
God !  Christ  showed  us  this,  but  He  showed  us 
more  than  this.  He  showed  us  that  through  the 
working  out  of  this  great  law  the  strong  get  a 


14  CIVIC   CHKISTIANITY. 

training  in  character  tliat  makes  them  like  unto 
God!  God  does  not  care  so  much  about  specu- 
lations about  Himself.  It  is  good  to  have  a  lib- 
eral philosophy,  a  right  theology;  but  our  in- 
tellectual grasp  of  truth  apart  from  the  fact  that 
God  is,  and  that  He  is  three  Persons,  has  not 
much  to  do  with  the  development  of  our  higher 
life.  What  we  should  be  is  that  which  we  be- 
come in  the  practical  ^orks  of  mercy  toward  oui* 
fellow-men. 

Every  institution  that  is  founded  to  care  for 
the  unfortunate  is  the  work  of  Christ.  It  is 
His  gospel  for  the  poor,  preached  practically. 
Homes,  hospitals,  asylums,  reformatories — all 
are  products  of  a  Christian  civilization.  We 
must  never  forget  that  it  was  Christ's  clergy 
who  first  established  them.  Though  they  have, 
many  of  them,  been  divorced  from  the  Church, 
they  flourish  nowhere  outside  of  the  light  of 
Christ ;  for  all  take  their  rise  in  the  parable  of 
the  good  Samaritan — in  the  life  of  Him  who 
went  about  doing  good. 

But  these  things  are  not  sufficient.  After  all, 
those  who  give  to  these  institutions  are  but  few 
in  number ;  nor  can  the  gifts  of  money  compare 
with  the  gift  of  service.    Do  we  not  perceive  this 


THE  MARKS  OF   THE  MESSIAH.  I5 

in  Christ?  Indeed,  many  there  are  who  give 
money  to  purchase  from  their  consciences  an  im- 
munity from  service.  When  will  the  strong 
learn  that  it  is 

"  Not  what  we  give,  but  what  we  share — 
Tor  the  gift  without  the  giver  is  bare —  " 

that  has  stamped  upon  it  the  marks  of  the 
Messiah,  that  is  the  only  coin  w^hich  will  pass 
current  in  His  kingdom  ? 

You  see  what  I  mean :  you  must  take  a  real, 
an  active  interest  in  the  poor.  You  must  make 
them  to  feel  that  you  do  not  treat  them  from  an 
arm's  length;  that  you  do  not  regard  them  as 
inferiors,  as  recipients  merely  of  your  discarded 
clothing  and  surplus  wealth.  Do  not  misunder- 
stand me;  I  have  the  greatest  admiration  for 
those  who  give  willingly,  for  those  who  regard 
their  wealth  as  a  bounty  of  God,  and  themselves 
as  His  stewards ;  but  I  say  frankly,  as  I  under- 
stand the  marks  of  the  Messiah,  to  give  money 
alone  is  not  sufficient ;  it  does  not  fill  out  the  full 
measure  of  the  royal  law. 

My  friends,  do  you  not  read  the  signs  of  the 
times  ?  On  all  sides  the  toiling,  struggling  poor 
make  demands  that  the  political  economists, 
when  they  settled  their  theory  of  capital,  labor, 


16  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  the  wage  fund,  never  dreamed  of.  Wlio 
will  say  that  the  poor  have  not  a  right  to  the 
things  that  they  declare  are  necessary  in  order 
that  they  may  develop  like  men?  Who  is  there 
that  does  not  hope  that  they  may  be  advanced 
all  along  the  line  of  comfort,  of  culture,  of  Chris- 
tianity? And  the  advance  will  come — it  must 
come ;  but  how  ?  Surely  not  by  the  adoption  of 
any  radical  progi'am  -such  as  that  of  Karl  Marx, 
nor  by  the  unfolding  of  any  pusillanimous  Utopia 
J  such  as  that  of  Edward  Bellamy ;  but  by  the  re- 

-"-■^  generation  of  the  mass  of  the  weak  individual 
men  and  women,  through  the  personal  help  of  the 
strong,  through  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  by 
deed  as  well  as  by  word.  Society  cannot  be  re- 
modeled by  laws,  unless,  indeed,  the  laws  are 
written  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The  laws  of  Moses 
never  really  directed  the  actions  of  the  Israelites ; 
they  were  external  to  them  and  were  written 
upon  stones.  But  the  rules  of  Christ  can  direct 
our  actions,  because  they  are  internal  to  us  and 
are  written  upon  our  hearts,  i.e.,  they  are  wi'itten 
there  if  we  honor  and  love  Him  as  God  and  as 
Man. 

As  Christian  men,  then,  take  hold  of  the  real 
questions  of  the  day — the  social  questions;  a 


THE  MAEKS  OF  THE  MESSIAH.  I7 

hundred  demand  solution.  They  meet  our  eyes 
in  every  newspaper,  in  every  magazine.  They 
cry  out  to  us  from  every  mill  and  tenement  and 
saloon.  There  is  the  question  of  the  rescue  of 
young  children  from  premature  toil  and  degi-ad- 
ing  surroundings.  There  is  the  question  of  their 
education,  physical,  intellectual,  moral,  and  re- 
ligious. There  is  the  question  of  the  suppression 
of  the  social  vices  of  intemperance,  gambling, 
vagi'ancy,  and  another  that  need  not  be  named. 
There  is  the  question  of  the  relief  of  the  unem- 
ployed and  of  the  scantily  paid  employed.  There 
is  the  whole  great  question  of  capital  and  labor, 
interest  and  wages.  There  is  a  series  of  ques- 
tions concerning  the  sanitary  conditions  of  tene- 
ments, of  workshops ;  of  the  securing  of  Sunday 
and  of  shorter  hours  of  labor  to  the  poor.  Then 
there  is  a  whole  series  of  questions  concerning 
the  reform  of  the  primary  meeting,  of  the  caucus, 
the  ballot ;  the  suppression  of  bribery ;  the  secur- 
ing of  a  good  civil  service  and  a  fair  judiciary. 
And  there  are  those  most  interesting  and  press- 
ing questions  of  the  prevention  of  crime  and 
the  reformation  of  criminals.  To  these  I  might 
add  others — for  example,  the  treatment  of  the 
insane,  an  equitable  mode  of  taxation,  the  re- 


18  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

striction  of  immigration,  and  the  like — but  I 
forbear. 

And  these  questions  demand  solution ;  and  for 
their  solution  they  demand  study,  devotion,  and 
service  more  than  they  do  money.  And  they 
demand  these  things,  not  so  much  in  theory 
(though  theorizing  is  good  in  its  way),  but  in 
action.  The  questions  demand  that  the  indi- 
vidually strong  should  do  as  Christ  did — do  the 
works  of  mercy  for  the  individually  poor  of  the 
world. 

And  now  a  word  of  advice,  of  counsel,  to  you, 
gentlemen  of  the  gi'aduating  class  of  1892 — to 
you  who  are  about  to  begin  the  active  work  of 
your  lives.  Remember  that  life  is  understood 
only  as  you  make  others  and  not  yourselves  the 
centre  of  your  thoughts  and  deeds,  even  as  it  is 
impossible  to  understand  the  universe  through 
the  Ptolemaic,  but  only  through  the  Copernican, 
system ;  and  every  human  soul  is  a  microcosm, 
reflecting  the  macrocosm.  If  you  will  do  this 
your  lives  (no  matter  what  may  be  the  amount 
of  success  that  the  world  will  accord  or  withhold 
from  you)  will  be  full  and  beautiful ;  for  you  will 
be  in  the  guidance  of  the  new  Adam,  and  not 
under  the  law  of  the  old.    And  in  His  guidance 


THE  MAEKS  OF  THE  MESSIAH.       I9 

you  will  attain  unto  something  of  the  perfection 
that  all  men  recognize  to  be  His. 

But  more  than  this :  you  will  do  much  of  the 
work  of  humanity  that  remains  to  be  done  for 
men.  You  will  help  to  raise  the  tone  of  all  so- 
ciety. You  will  alleviate  many  of  the  dreadful 
sufferings  of  mankind.  You  will  become  good 
citizens — good  Christians ;  you  will  be  men. 


II. 

CHRIST  AND  THE   MULTITUDES. 

"  But  when  He  saw  the  multitudes,  He  was  moved  with  com- 
passion on  them,  because  they  fainted,  and  were  scattered 
abroad,  as  sheep  having  no  sliepherd.  Then  saith  He  imto  His 
disciples.  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  are 
few."— Matt.  ix.  36,  37. 

The  subject  of  my  discourse  to-day  is  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  multitudes.  How  did  Jesus,  in 
His  walks  through  the  cities  of  Judah  and  Gal- 
ilee, act  toward  the  multitudes — the  masses  of 
men?  Let  it  be  understood,  first  of  all,  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  Himself  what  is  called  a  man 
of  the  people — a  working-man.  It  must  not  be 
understood  thereby  that  He  was  boorish  and  un- 
educated. (It  is  not  necessary  to  think  that  any 
working-man  is.)  The  Jews  ever  gave  great  at- 
tention to  the  education  of  the  young.  At  an 
early  age  Jesus  was  found  in  the  temple  holding 
His  own  with  the  doctors  of  the  law.  We  should 
understand  by  "  working-man  "  that  the  occupa- 
tion of  Jesus  was  that  of  a  man  who  gains  his 

20 


CHRIST  AND  THE  MULTITUDES.  21 

livelihood  by  the  use  of  his  hands ;  that  He  was 
by  trade  a  carpenter.  But  we  should  understand 
more:  we  should  understand  that  Jesus  lived 
always  with  and  among  the  people;  that  He 
spent  His  life  chiefly  in  a  crowd,  near  to  the 
men  and  women  of  lowly  degi'ee.  Again  and 
again  do  we  read  that  the  people  "  pressed  upon 
Him  for  to  touch  Him."  We  are  told  that  "  the 
common  people  heard  Him  gladly."  We  are 
asked,  "  Hath  any  of  the  rulers  or  of  the  Phar- 
isees believed  on  Him!"  He  Himself  spoke  of 
the  fact  of  His  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  poor 
as  one  of  the  great  proofs  of  His  Messiahship. 

And  so  we  read  in  the  words  of  our  text  that 
"  when  Jesus  saw  the  multitudes.  He  was  moved 
with  compassion  on  them."  Indeed,  it  is  a  re- 
markable fact  that  whenever  Jesus  came  into 
contact  with  the  multitudes — face  to  face,  as 
it  were,  with  them — He  "had  compassion  on 
them."  It  grieved  Him  then  (it  must  grieve  Him 
now)  to  see  how  much  they  were  left  to  them- 
selves ;  how  much  they  were  scattered  abroad ; 
how  out  of  all  touch  with  the  higher  classes  they 
were ;  how  out  of  all  the  calculation  of  the  aris- 
tocracy of  the  nation.  "They  were  like  sheep 
having  no  shepherd."    They  were  ready  for  the 


22  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

harvesting  into  the  garner,  the  Chm-ch,  but  there 
were  no  harvesters. 

My  friends,  never  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
has  there  been  so  great  and  splendid  a  promise 
of  a  plenteous  harvest  of  the  multitudes  as  there 
is  to-day.  Never  has  the  demand  been  so  great 
for  laborers  for  the  harvest.  The  people — the 
fourth  estate,  as  they  were  called  by  the  old 
French  economists — have  now  become  the  first 
in  power  in  all  the  enlightened  countries  of  the 
world.  That  power,  indeed,  which  was  once 
lodged  in  a  feudal  nobility,  and  which  from  the 
nobility  passed  to  the  great  middle  classes,  has 
at  last,  in  the  evolution  of  democracy,  come  into 
the  hands  of  the  working  masses.  Democracy  is 
triumphant  in  America,  in  Australia,  in  France. 
It  is  making  itself  to  bo  heard  in  Germany  and 
in  the  British  Isles.  Like  a  strong  giant,  the 
people  have  aroused  themselves  from  sleep ;  they 
will  be  heard ;  and  who  shall  withstand  the  cry 
of  their  voice  ?  Labor,  its  rights  and  its  wrongs, 
labor  associations  and  labor  parties,  meet  our 
eyes  and  claim  our  ears  in  all  the  publications, 
from  all  the  platforms  of  the  day.  It  is  true 
that  labor  has  met  with  many  and  sad  reverses 
in  its  efforts  toward  emancipation  and  success; 


CHRIST  AND  THE  MULTITUDES.  23 

but  these  reverses  have  taught  the  working-class 
wholesome  lessons,  by  means  of  which  they  have 
profited  so  well  that,  firm,  determined,  confident, 
they  make  their  rightful  claims  to  a  larger  share 
in  the  marvelous  productions  of  the  age,  and  no 
one  dare  say  them  nay.  It  is  remarkable  with 
what  dignity,  sobriety,  and  fairness  the  delegates 
of  the  labor  associations  and  of  the  trades-unions 
discuss  their  questions  in  all  their  conventions, 
here  and  abroad.  But  still  more  remarkable  is 
the  calmness  and  reasonableness  of  the  news- 
papers which  discuss  these  labor  gatherings. 
The  world  is  advancing:  labor  no  more  looks 
upon  capital  as  an  enemy  in  itself ;  capital  sees 
that  labor  cannot  and  does  not  want  it  destroyed. 
We  all  see  that  what  the  masses  want  is  an  ad- 
vance in  culture,  in  education,  in  the  benefits  of 
this  most  productive  age ;  and  we  are,  most  of 
us,  willing  that  they  should  have  this  advance, 
for  we  recognize  the  justice  of  it. 

But  the  question  is,  How  are  we  going  to  act 
toward  this  new  power — this  new  demand  ?  For 
there  is  no  use  hiding  it  from  ourselves :  socialism 
in  some  form  or  other  has  come  to  stay.  It  has 
challenged  and  it  has  secured  the  support  of  all 
the  great  publicists  and  thinkers  of  the  age. 


24  CIVIC  CHEISTIANITY. 

Associations  have  been  fonned,  or  are  in  the 
process  of  formation,  on  all  sides  to  discuss  this 
great  movement,  to  formulate  it,  to  put  its  prac- 
ticable demands  in  the  way  of  being  acted  upon. 
There  will  not  be,  in  all  probability,  a  general 
union  of  production  by  the  means  which  so- 
cialists call "  collective  capital,"  nor  will  all  rents 
and  interests  be  abolished;  but  the  avenues  of 
trade  and  the  great  raw  staples  of  food  and 
material  will  eventually  be  controlled,  if  not 
owned,  by  the  nation.  Labor  shall  no  more 
envy  capital  and  capital  shall  no  more  vex  labor. 
There  shall  come  a  time  in  the  Church  of  God 
when  he  that  doth  not  work — or  hath  not  worked 
— shall  not  eat !  For  God  is  a  worker,  and  the 
Son  of  God  and  of  man  is  a  worker ;  who  hath  a 
right  to  live  in  idleness  ? 

Do  you  not  see — oh  that  the  working-class 
might  see ! — that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  best  friend 
that  they  ever  had  I  We  of  the  privileged  class 
may  seem  to  forget  this  as  much  as  we  will,  yet 
there  is  ever  a  conscious  feeling  in  our  hearts 
that  Jesus  was  a  carpenter,  a  man  of  the  people ; 
that  He  was  "moved  with  compassion"  when 
He  came  face  to  face  with  them.  And  so  when 
the  masses  make  demands  upon  us  that  we 


CHRIST  AND  THE  MULTITUDES.  25 

should  give  up  some  of  our  cherished  privileges, 
and  reproach  us  with  the  fact  that  though  we 
profess  to  be  like  Christ  we  are  utterly  unlike 
Him,  we  yield ;  we  yield  with  unwilling  hearts, 
it  is  true,  but  we  yield — we  are  yielding.  My 
friends,  you  do  not  read  at  all  the  signs  of  the 
times  if  you  do  not  see  the  immense  strides  that 
the  working-men  have  made — are  making — in 
power,  in  position,  in  dignity. 

And  it  is  Just  herein  that  there  lies  the  differ- 
ence between  us  and  the  classical  world.  The 
old  civilization,  with  all  of  its  culture  and  re- 
finement, failed  in  this  and  because  of  this :  that 
its  politicians  and  thinkers  had  no  compassion 
on  the  multitudes.  Athens  was  a  democracy  of 
aristocracy ;  the  whole  fabric  of  the  state  rested 
on  a  mass  of  struggling,  toiling  men  and  women 
who  were  bound  in  chains  of  slavery.  The  policy 
of  the  Romans  was  either  to  flatter  and  bribe  the 
masses,  or  else  to  betray  and  kill  them.  Pagan- 
ism, tied  up  as  it  was  with  slavery,  could  offer 
no  better  way  to  deal  with  the  multitudes.  Let 
me  say  right  here — and  I  speak  out  of  the  experi- 
ence of  two  professions — that  the  best  excuse 
that  public  men — aye,  and  private  men  too — 
have  for  their  distrust  and  fear  of  the  common 


26  ^  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

people  is  that  they  do  not  know  them.  Indeed, 
this  is,  as  I  take  it,  the  great  calamity  of  the  age : 
^the  people  of  wealth  and  refinement  come  too 
little  in  contact,  in  touch,  with  the  people  of  labor 
and  lowly  degi'ee.  Why,  humanity  is  humanity, 
and  there  is  but  little  difference  between  men 
and  men,  or  between  women  and  women,  wher- 
ever you  may  find  them,  in  whatsoever  walks  of 
life.  The  words  of  Shylock  in  the  play  come  to 
my  mind.  He  speaks  of  himself  as  a  Jew.  Let 
us  speak  as  he  speaks  of  every  and  any  man : 

"  Hath  not  a  Jew  eyes  ?  hath  not  a  Jew  hands, 
organs,  dimensions,  senses,  affections,  passions? 
fed  with  the  same  food,  hurt  with  the  same 
weapons,  subject  to  the  same  diseases,  healed  by 
the  same  means,  warmed  and  cooled  by  the  same 
winter  and  summer,  as  a  Christian  is?  If  you 
prick  us,  do  we  not  bleed!  if  you  tickle  us,  do 
we  not  laugh  1  if  you  poison  us,  do  we  not  die  ? 
and  if  you  wrong  us,  shall  we  not  revenge  ?  If 
we  are  like  you  in  the  rest,  we  will  resemble  you 
in  that."    Alas !  alas !  too  often  has  it  been  so ! 

There  is  but  little  difference,  I  repeat,  between 
"all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,"  and  though 
wealth  may  have  made  a  gulf  of  feeling  between 
the  higher  and  lower  classes,  the  step  between 


CHRIST  AND  THE  MULTITUDES.  27 

them  in  this  Hf e  is  a  little  one  in  fact,  and  is  often 
made  in  a  few  short  years.  Indeed,  it  is  just 
herein  that  we  see  the  hollowness  of  the  whole 
thing.  And  this,  as  I  have  already  said,  is  a 
great  calamity :  the  feeling  of  pride  and  vainglory 
keeps  the  higher  classes  away  from  the  masses ; 
they  know  little  about  them,  and,  as  a  rule,  they 
do  not  want  to  know  anything  more.  You  may 
say  that  my  indictment  is  too  sweeping;  well, 
how  many  of  the  common  people  do  you,  do 
each  of  you,  know  f  How  many  have  you  ever 
called  upon!  I  do  not  mean  how  many  have 
you  ever  visited  to  give  them  money  and  old 
clothes,  but  how  many  have  you  ever  called 
upon  in  a  neighborly.  Christlike  way?  Not 
very  many,  I  imagine.  Each  section  of  society 
in  the  United  States  desires  to  keep  away  from 
every  other  section ;  so  all  the  joints  of  the  social 
fabric  are  open ;  when  the  winds  and  the  floods 
come,  great  will  be  the  destruction  and  the  fall 
thereof. 

But  how  is  it  with  the  employers  of  labor? 
Do  they  come  into  touch  with  their  workmen? 
No,  not  at  all.  There  was  a  time  in  the  New 
England  and  in  the  other  villages  of  the  land 
when  the  employer  knew  all  his  "hands"  by 


28  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

name  and  had  a  knowledge  of  their  welfare ;  but 
the  mills  have  gi-own  to  such  colossal  proportions 
that  the  master  now  seems  to  know  none.  The 
men  come  into  contact  with  their  employers  on 
Saturday  night  when  they  receive  their  weekly 
wages  through  the  window  in  the  office,  and 
this  is  generally  all.  No  wonder  there  is  often 
anger  and  suspicion  between  the  one  and  the 
other. 

The  classes  do  not  know  the  masses,  nor  do 
the  masses  know  the  classes.  They  do  not  know 
how  many  men  there  are  among  the  rich  and  the 
powerful  who  regret  the  present  state  of  affairs ; 
who  long  to  modify,  if  not  to  remedy,  it.  And 
so  it  is  that  employers  have  erected  libraries, 
started  insurance  organizations,  established  in- 
finnaries,  etc.  But  all  these  things  are  but 
makeshifts ;  they  do  not  stop  the  gap ;  they  but 
bridge  it  over  here  and  there.  The  masses  will 
never  be  contented  until  they  come  into  actual 
touch  with  their  brothers  of  the  classes.  They 
know  that  they  are,  many  of  them,  brutalized 
by  constant  labor,  given  over  to  drink  and  to 
unholy  ways  of  living ;  they  want  to  get  out  of 
such  ways;  they  want  to  walk  in  the  light  of 
the  life  which  they  see,  or  think  that  they  see, 


CHRIST  AND  THE  MULTITUDES.  29 

in  the  paths  of  the  cultured  people.  All  men 
must  have  teachers :  "  the  common  people  heard 
Christ  gladly ;  "  they  would  hear  us — they  would 
gladly  hear  us  too — if  we  were  more  like  Him 
whom  we  profess  to  be  our  Master. 

And  we  in  our  pride  and  selfishness,  given 
over  to  covetousness  and  vainglory — surely  they 
could  teach  us,  too,  many  a  lesson  of  humility 
and  generosity,  of  contempt  for  riches  and  the 
chief  places,  if  we  would  but  know  them.  They 
could  show  us  daily  examples  of  Christ's  doctrine 
that  "  a  man's  life  doth  not  consist  in  the  abun- 
dance of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 

Mix,  then,  with  the  people;  learn  to  love 
them  and  they  will  learn  to  love  you.  If  you 
are  a  man  and  not  a  conventionality,  you  will 
find  humanity — all  that  is  best  and  excellent  in 
humanity — under  every  roof.  And  this  finding 
of  humanity  will  make  you  ashamed  of  your 
pride  and  vainglory,  and  you  will  come  out  of 
your  mixing  with  the  people  with  an  enthusiasm 
that  will  make  your  heart  to  swell  and  you  your- 
seK  to  thank  God  that  you  too  are  a  man.  You 
will  have  the  joy  that  Jesus  had  when  He  healed 
the  multitudes,  when  He  fed  them,  when  He 
preached  the  gospel  to  the  poor.    But  when  you 


30  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

mix  with  the  multitudes  do  not  act  as  if  you 
were  a  superior  being,  even  though  you  may  be 
a  messenger  of  Grod  to  them.  Be  not  aware  of 
yourself  at  all;  or,  if  you  be  aware  of  yourself, 
think  only  that,  but  for  the  grace  of  God  toward 
you,  you  might  have  been  occupying  the  lowly 
place  in  the  social  scale  that  so  many  of  your 
brothers  and  sisters  occupy. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  the  age  is 
the  coming  together  of  people  in  especial  places 
— the  great  growth  of  cities.  Here,  huddled 
and  massed  together  on  insufficient  gi'ound,  the 
masses  are  neglected;  they  pay  more  rent  per 
square  foot  in  their  squalor  than  the  wealthiest 
citizens  do  in  their  glory ;  and  it  is  the  rent  that 
presses  so  heavily  on  the  poor.  Harassed  by  in- 
cessant noise,  bad  air,  and  sickness,  no  wonder 
they  have  not  fine  manners.  Anxious  by  reason 
of  want  of  work,  no  wonder  they  just  maintain 
their  heads  above  water.  You  may  say  that  the 
poor  are  improvident,  but  so  are  we  all.  It  is 
the  exceptional  man  who  secures  and  keeps  se- 
cure a  competence — ^who  insures  the  well-being 
of  his  family  after  death.  But  it  is  difficult  for 
the  masses  to  be  provident ;  their  wages  are  not 
great,  their  work  is  often  uncertain,  their  rents 


CHRIST  AND  THE  MULTITUDES.  31 

are  high,  and  so  much  of  their  savings  must  go  to 
eke  out  an  existence  in  the  "  bad  times,"  so  much 
is  swallowed  up  in  sickness,  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  them  to  be  provident,  unless  they 
are  exceptionally  fortunate.  I  have  had  case 
after  case  of  distress  come  to  me  where  sickness, 
and  not  improvidence,  was  its  cause.  Sickness 
leads  to  borrowing,  and  borrowing  makes  people 
to  go  to  the  usurers,  and  these  speedily  sap  all 
the  strength  out  of  the  households  of  the  self- 
respecting,  and  reduce  them  to  the  condition  of 
the  helpless  poor. 

And  then  there  is  that  miserable,  mean  way 
that  the  "harpies"  have  of  selling  a  piece  of 
furniture  or  a  sewing-machine  on  instalments, 
the  payment  of  the  instalment  to  depend  upon 
the  continuous  wages  of  the  head  of  the  house. 
Alas !  how  often  is  there  a  strike  or  a  panic  or 
some  accident  or  sickness,  and  the  instalment  is 
not  forthcoming,  and  so  the  "harpy"  enters  in 
and  takes  away  the  article,  and  keeps  also  the 
money  that  has  already  been  paid,  in  forfeiture ! 
Oh,  the  wretched  men  who  "grind  the  faces  of 
the  poor  " ;  who  take  from  them  cent  per  cent  of 
usury  of  all  that  they  lend  them !  Surely  Grod 
shall  render  to  them  some  day  the  measure  that 


32  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

they  have  meted.  Surely  He  will  not  hold  us 
guiltless  who  suffer  such  things  to  be.  And 
how  ignorant,  how  helpless  are  the  people  who 
get  into  the  clutches  of  these  wretches,  who, 
knowing  the  law  and  of  the  ways  of  the  law, 
spread  their  traps  for  them,  covering  up  all  their 
devices !  How  can  we  blame  the  poor  if  they 
lose  courage,  and,  feeling  in  the  bitterness  of 
their  souls  that  their  brothers  have  no  care  for 
them,  end  by  caring  neither  for  man  nor  God  1 

But  of  poverty  in  itself  I  have  not  wished  to 
speak  so  much  to-day ;  I  wanted  rather  to  draw 
your  attention  to  the  gi^eat  danger  that  there  is 
of  a  permanent  misunderstanding  between  the 
classes  and  the  masses,  and  to  point  out  to  you 
your  duty  as  Christian  men  and  women  toward 
this  state  of  affairs.  If  each  of  you  should  ask 
me,  "  What  is  my  duty  ? "  I  must  confess  I  could 
not  answer  you  in  any  detail;  but  what  I  can 
and  what  I  do  advise  you  to  do  is  to  put  your- 
self in  the  place  of  Christ  toward  the  "multi- 
tudes" of  your  fellow-men.  You  profess  that 
you  beheve  that  He  is  the  Word,  and  that  "  the 
Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us"; 
beheve,  then,  in  the  truth  of  the  Incarnation 
truly:  that  the  Word  dwells  in  the  flesh  of  all 


CHRIST  AND  THE  MULTITUDES.  33 

men;  that  all  men,  therefore,  are  equal  in  the 
sight  of  God ;  that  with  Him  there  is  no  respect 
of  persons,  that  with  us  there  should  be  none. 
It  all  depends — the  whole  of  our  conduct  toward 
the  multitudes  depends — upon  this  question: 
Are  we  occupying  the  position  of  Christ  or  not  ? 
And  if  we  are  we  will  do  our  duty  without  de- 
lay ;  we  will  have  no  need  of  words  of  exhorta- 
tion, no  need  of  the  reports  of  commissions,  no 
need  of  charity  organizations,  but  we  will  mingle 
with  the  masses  as  men  with  men,  and  the  occa- 
sion as  it  arises  will  show  us  what  to  do,  and  we 
will  do  what  the  occasion  requires,  if  we  love 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.    For 

"...  dearly,  dearly  hath  He  loved, 
And  we  must  love  Him  too, 
And  trust  in  His  redeeming  blood, 
And  try  His  work  to  do." 


III. 

THE  ALIENATION   OF  THE  MASSES. 

"And  the  people  sought  Him,  and  came  unto  Him,  and  stayed 
Him,  that  He  should  not  depart  from  them." — Luke  iv.  42. 

If  there  is  any  one  fact  that  is  apparent  in 
these  days  of  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century 
in  regard  to  the  state  of  our  religion,  it  is  that 
the  masses  are  not  in  the  churches;  that  they 
seem  to  be,  if  they  are  not  actually,  alienated 
therefrom. 

Eun  your  eye  along  Woodward  Avenue  and 
count  the  churches  thereupon,  and  you  must 
see  what  I  mean.  The  costliest,  handsomest 
churches  in  Detroit  are  spread  out  along  this 
great  thoroughfare,  or  they  are  not  far  from 
it — in  the  parts  of  the  city  inhabited  chiefly  by 
the  rich.  Of  course  you  can  find  in  the  territory 
to  the  right  and  to  the  left  many  church-build- 
ings; but  the  chief  ones  are,  as  I  have  said,  to 
be  found  on  Woodward  Avenue  or  on  Jefferson 
Avenue  or  on  Tort  Street,  or  in  their  immediate 
vicinities,  in  the  quarters  of  the  rich. 

34 


THE  ALIENATION  OF   THE  MASSES.  35 

Now  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  these  churches 
of  the  wealthy  and  cultured  classes  do  not  min- 
ister to  the  lowly  and  simple  people ;  on  the  con- 
trary, they  do  so  in  many  ways,  and  in  their  mem- 
bership many  plain  and  unpretentious  citizens 
are  to  be  found.  But  for  the  most  part  they 
minister  to  the  rich;  do  you  not  find  this  to 
be  so? 

The  mechanics  and  laboring  classes  in  the 
United  States  do  not  go  often  to  church,  except 
as  they  go  to  the  Roman  Catholic  or  to  some  of 
the  Episcopal  churches  in  the  largest  cities. 
Even  the  Methodist  denomination,  which  once 
held  so  many  of  them  in  its  wide  embrace,  has 
in  some  ways  latterly  lost  its  hold  upon  their 
affections.  The  Salvation  Army  has  tried  to 
take  its  place,  but  it  has  not  altogether  suc- 
ceeded. As  I  know  the  plainer  classes  of  men, 
I  know  that  they  do  not  care  for  the  sort  of 
Christianity  which  is  propagated  by  the  aid  of 
tambourines  and  cornets  and  the  rest.  But  let 
me  say  in  passing,  the  Salvationists,  I  am  sure, 
do  much  good  in  arresting  the  attention  of  men 
to  the  essential  truths  of  Christianity.  I  know 
that  in  the  great  cities  like  London  and  New 
York  the  churches  have  sent  their  missionaries. 


36  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

clerical  and  lay,  into  the  mean  and  squalid 
quarters  of  the  poorest  of  men,  and  that  they 
have  done  much  good  by  such  agencies  as  a 
"Toynbee  Hall"  and  an  "Oxford  House"  and 
an  "East  Side  House"  and  a  "College  Settle- 
ment"; but,  after  all,  these  agencies  have  not 
brought  back  the  masses  into  the  fold  of  the 
churches;  rather  have  they  served  to  illustrate 
the  truth  that  the  lowest  classes  are  not  in  them. 
But  I  do  not  so  much,  to-day,  speak  of  these 
"  sorts  and  conditions  "  of  men  as  of  the  opera- 
tives and  mechanics. 

Now  there  are  two  questions  which  arise  in 
our  minds  as  we  are  confronted  by  this  state  of 
affairs :  first.  How  do  we  account  for  it  ?  secondly, 
What  is  to  be  done  to  remedy  it  ? 

Let  us  examine  the  reasons  why  this  state  of 
affairs  has  come  to  pass.  My  belief  is  that  it  is 
caused  primarily  by  the  alienation  of  the  so- 
called  higher  from  the  lower  classes  outside  of 
the  churches,  which  is  continued  inside  of  them. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  separation  of  these  two 
classes  of  people  has  become  so  great  that  there 
is  no  intercourse  to-day  between  master  and  ser- 
vant, employer  and  employee.  There  was  a  time 
when  the  employer  was  but  little  removed  from 


THE  ALIENATION  OF   THE  MASSES.  37 

his  employees,  and  lived  among  them,  knowing 
most  of  them  personally,  able  to  call  them  by 
their  names.  But  it  is  not  so  now.  The  mas- 
ter in  the  great  business  concerns  knows  none 
of  his  servants,  or,  if  he  knows  them,  he  knows 
them  simply  as  so  many  "hands"  which  are 
adjusted  to  his  machines.  He  lives,  usually, 
far  removed  from  them.  And  besides,  most  of 
the  masters  to-day  are  great  corporations,  of 
which  the  stock  is  owned  by  a  number  of  irre- 
sponsible (so  far  as  the  operatives  are  concerned) 
persons,  who  care  only  for  dividends.  And  these 
stockholders  live  anywhere  and  everywhere, 
wherever  their  surroundings  are  most  pleasant 
to  themselves.  They  are  often  utter  strangers 
to  all  the  rest  of  those  who  are  interested  in  the 
concern,  as  well  to  other  stockholders  as  to  oper- 
atives and  mechanics. 

Now  it  is  the  employer  classes — the  rich — 
rather  than  the  employees — the  poor — who  build 
churches ;  and  they  build  them  for  themselves, 
in  the  parts  of  the  cities  where  they  dwell.  I 
will  do  them  justice :  they  often  desire  that  the 
masses  shall  come  to  their  churches  (though 
sometimes  they  do  not  even  desire  this) ;  but  it 
is  not  to  be  supposed  that  they  will.    Separated 


38  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

as  the  two  classes  are  on  week-days  in  the  actual 
affairs  of  life,  it  is  a  logical  outcome  of  this  fact 
that  they  will  not  come  together  on  Sundays.  I 
am  speaking  now  generally  to  men  and  women 
who  do  not  belong  to  the  operative  class.  Put 
the  question  to  yourselves :  If  you  should  have 
no  intercourse  with  your  richer  neighbors  during 
the  week  would  you  feel  like  going  to  their  places 
of  worship  for  an  hour  or  two  on  Sundays? 
"  Ah  yes !  but,"  you  will  say,  "  if  you  feel  this 
way,  why  do  you  not  build  churches  and  main- 
tain them  for  yourselves  ? "  The  answer  is  obvi- 
ous :  "  It  costs  money — a  great  deal  of  money — 
to  build  and  to  maintain  churches;  we  really 
cannot  afford  to  do  this.  Even  with  the  rich 
the  churches  depend  upon  the  few  most  wealthy 
and  generous  to  save  them  from  bankruptcy." 
"  True,"  you  will  say,  "  but  we  furnish  you  with 
mission  chapels."  "  True,  you  do ;  but  they  are 
evidences  that  you,  on  your  part,  do  not  really 
expect  us  to  come  to  your  churches.  And  these 
chapels  ?  Well,  sometimes  we  have  well-ordered 
services  and  sermons  that  edify,  but  for  the 
most  part  of  the  time  we  do  not.  In  religious 
affairs  we  will  be  content  only  with  the  best." 
Nor  is  this  the  only  reason  why  the  masses 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  THE  MASSES.  39 

are  alienated  from  the  churches ;  there  is  a  rea- 
son far  more  subtle  and  pernicious  to  the  cause 
of  Christ.  It  is  the  division  of  Christendom  into 
so  many  denominations  and  sects.  The  minds 
of  the  working-people,  as  a  rule,  are  not  prone 
to  fine  and  fine-spun  distinctions.  Occupied  as 
they  are  with  earning  their  daily  bread,  they 
have  no  time  to  make  historical  and  philo- 
sophical studies.  They  cannot  help  but  ask 
themselves  why  there  are  so  many  denomina- 
tions bidding  for  their  good  will  and  support. 
Perhaps  they  can  understand  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  papacy  and  the  Protestant  churches, 
but  outside  of  this  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is 
one  in  a  thousand  who  knows  the  reason  for  the 
Episcopal  or  the  Presbyterian  or  the  Methodist 
Church.  They  say  to  the  educated  classes :  "You 
monopolize  the  churches.  Heal  your  di\dsions, 
and  then  come  to  us  and  we  will  hear  you.  If  you 
each  think  that  your  own  way  of  living  Christ's 
life  is  the  best  way,  that  your  own  way  of  think- 
ing about  God  is  the  right  way,  what  is  the  use 
of  our  bothering?  You  all  cannot  be  right — you 
may  all  be  wrong."  And,  let  us  confess  it,  there 
is  a  gi-eat  deal  in  this  logic  of  the  working  popu- 
lace to  make  us  pause. 


40  CIVIC  CHEISTIANITY. 

You  will  notice  that  I  have  spoken  of  the 
alienation  of  the  masses  from  the  churches,  and 
not  from  Christianity ;  and  I  have  done  this  in- 
tentionally, for  Christianity  and  the  churches 
are  not  identical.  Christianity  is  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  churches'  teachings,  and  the  rea- 
son for  their  existence;  but  Christianity  is  big- 
ger and  broader  and  better  than  any  church  or 
than  all  the  churches  together.  One  of  the  great- 
est evils  of  the  world  is  that  one  or  another  of 
the  churches  has  tried  to  monopolize  Christian- 
ity and  to  make  it  identical  with  itself ;  but  the 
doctrines  of  Christ  have  burst  their  bounds  as 
perennially  as  the  waters  flow  forth  out  of  our 
Great  Lakes.  If  all  the  churches  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  were  one,  Christianity  might  be  said 
to  be  identical  with  it,  but  not  of  necessity.  If 
that  one  church  should  err  in  any  way  it  would 
fall  short  of  the  doctrine  of  our  Lord,  and  be  less 
than  His  Church. 

The  masses  are  not,  I  believe,  alienated  from 
Christianity.  Here  and  there  there  are  groups 
of  men  who,  identifying  Christianity  with  the 
churches,  and  feeling  themselves  antagonistic  to 
them,  aver  that  they  are  agnostics,  atheists,  in- 
fidels, anarchists,  or  what  you  will.    These  men, 


THE  ALIENATION  OP  THE  MASSES.  41 

for  the  most  part,  are  few.  The  vast  majority 
of  the  masses  turn  to  Christ,  and  come  to  Him 
and  stay  upon  Him,  and  so  they  will  do  to  the 
end  of  time.  They  recognize  Him  to  have  been 
a  working-man,  as  they  are  themselves ;  a  man 
acquainted  with  grief,  as  they  know  they  must 
be ;  a  man  upon  whom  the  burden  of  life  pressed 
with  terrific  force.  It  is  not  the  Christ  of  the 
evangelists  that  they  cannot  love,  the  Christ  who 
came  preaching  the  "  gospel  to  the  poor,"  whom 
the  common  people  heard  gladly;  but  it  is  the 
Christ  of  the  churches,  whom  theology  and  phi- 
losophy have  explained  away  from  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  life  and  made  a  mere  abstraction; 
whom  ecclesiasticism  and  traditionalism  have 
made  a  sort  of  show-figure,  stiff  with  jewels  and 
embroidery.  The  common  people  will  hear  Christ 
to-day  as  gladly  as  they  did  when  He  was  here 
on  earth,  when  His  preachers  come  to  them,  as 
He  came,  in  lowliness  and  in  simplicity;  when 
His  confessors  live,  as  He  told  them  to  five,  in 
meekness  and  in  mercy ;  when  we  who  are  Chris- 
tians cease  to  be  hypocrites,  deceiving  ourselves 
and  seeking  to  deceive  others. 

And  this  we  will  cease  to  be  when  we  give  up 
our  idols  of  wealth  and  of  success  and  of  plea- 


42  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

sure,  and  live  as  Christ  lived  on  earth ;  offering 
"ourselves — our  souls  and  bodies — to  be  a  rea- 
sonable, holy,  and  living  sacrifice"  to  God  and 
man  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  who  saved  us  and 
all  mankind  from  the  doom  of  sin.  It  was  said 
that  the  Roman  augurs,  when  they  examined 
the  entrails  of  birds  to  find  some  omen  for  doing 
or  not  doing  something,  laughed  one  another  in 
the  face.  Frankly,  I  Wonder  that  we  who  pro- 
fess and  call  ourselves  Christians  do  not  often 
do  the  same.  The  fact  is  that  our  whole  system 
of  living  is  wrong.  We  build  houses  and  set  up 
our  domestic  establishments  with  a  single  eye  to 
our  own  comfort  and  pleasure,  and  then  we  give 
what  is  left  over — if  anything  is  left — of  our 
time  and  service  and  money  to  our  neighbors; 
whereas  we  ought  to  build  our  houses  and  regu- 
late our  lives  from  the  beginning  with  two  eyes 
— one  directed  to  ourselves  and  our  families,  and 
one  to  our  neighbors  and  theirs;  and  our  time 
and  service  and  money  should  be  divided  into 
two  equal  parts.  By  the  term  "  neighbor  "  here 
I  mean  all  the  interests  that  are  not  our  espe- 
cial interests :  the  city,  the  State,  and  the  affairs 
of  men  generally — religious,  moral,  intellectual, 
social.    I  ask  you.  Would  it  not  be  a  nobler  way 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  THE  MASSES.  43 

of  living?  Would  not  men — all  men — ^be  hap- 
pier? Would  not  all  the  divisions  of  Christen- 
dom, social,  political,  and  ecclesiastical,  be  shortly 
put  in  the  way  of  being  healed  ? 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  point.  The  unity 
of  Christendom  should  not  be  simply  a  unity  of 
feeling,  but  a  unity  in  fact.  We  must  have  feel- 
ing to  lead  to  a  union  between  the  churches,  but 
this  feeling  is  not  the  fact  itself.  Indeed,  there 
is,  as  there  has  always  been,  a  sort  of  unity  in 
Christendom — a  unity  which  has  existed  in  spite 
of  schisms ;  a  unity  of  feeUng  which  is  founded 
in  a  common  belief  in  Christ  rather  than  in 
Buddha  or  in  Mohammed.  And  this  unity  iy 
real.  It  is  what  is  called  Christian  unity  apart 
from  church  unity.  And  this  unity  of  feeling 
has  been  the  safeguard  of  Christendom.  It  is 
manifest  in  the  family,  on  the  street,  on  the 
platform,  in  all  the  daily  concerns  of  life.  The 
leaders  of  Christian  thought  and  practice,  no 
matter  to  what  especial  church  or  denomination 
they  may  belong,  are  all  animated  by  the  con- 
viction that  Christian  morality  and  belief  must 
be  maintained.  But  with  this  unity  the  masses 
are  not  content.  As  they  have  not  much  time 
to  think,  and  to  arrange  the  picture-puzzle  that 


44  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

has  been  disarranged  by  profane  hands,  they 
become  impatient  with  all  the  blocks,  and  ask 
that  they  may  be  destroyed.  These  blocks  have 
become  veritable  stumbling-blocks  in  their  way. 
Again,  the  masses  have  (since  the  demos  has 
become  the  ruling  power)  but  little  patience 
with  historical  impedimenta.  Good  illustrations 
of  this  impatience  are  seen  in  the  opposition 
of  the  people  to  the  House  of  Lords  in  Great 
Britain  and  to  the  Senate  in  the  United  States, 
both  of  which,  as  at  present  constituted,  have 
become  obsolete,  and  will  have  to  "go  by  the 
board." 

So  in  the  churches  the  masses  care  nothing  for 
the  old  quarrels  which  started  the  Presbyterians 
off  at  a  tangent  at  Westminster,  or  made  the  In- 
dependents to  come  to  New  England  to  set  up 
their  shibboleths.  They  know  that  a  bishop  to- 
day is  not  a  bugaboo,  and  they  know,  too,  that 
he  has  not,  as  he  ought  not  to  have,  any  power 
in  civil  affairs  but  that  which  comes  of  influence 
and  persuasion  to  good.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  know  that  the  Prayer-book  is  only  good 
for  something  as  it  expresses  the  hearty  desires 
and  aspirations  of  the  people  now,  and  that  it  is 
nonsense  to  make  its  use  obligatory  at  all  times, 


THE  ALIENATION   OF  THE  MASSES.  45 

upon  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men.  And 
so  of  vested  choirs  and  all  other  ritual  obser- 
vances of  whatsoever  kind :  they  are  not  of  the 
essence  of  things,  and  should  not  be  imposed 
upon  people  as  divine  because  they  were  used 
in  the  early  or  in  the  medieval  church.  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  masses  have  lost  respect  and 
veneration  for  the  ordinances  established  by  the 
Son  of  God  and  of  man.  He  is,  as  He  has  always 
manifested  Himself  to  be,  the  friend  of  the  peo- 
ple. They  feel  that  He  desires  to  wash  away 
the  sins  of  the  lowliest,  that  He  wills  to  give  His 
Body  and  Blood  to  the  poorest.  Their  great 
fear  is  that  the  professed  followers  of  Christ  are 
not  as  generous-minded  as  their  Master. 

Again,  if  there  were  a  church  unity  the  masses 
feel  that  there  would  be  churches  built  for  the 
masses ;  that  they  would  not  be  planted  generally 
in  the  best  quarters  of  the  town,  neither  would 
they  have  the  air  of  "clubs."  The  American 
people  especially  want  to  feel  that  the  things 
they  use  belong  to  them.  I  am  convinced  that 
a  great  central  church,  built  on  a  site  whesre  peo- 
ple most  do  congregate,  with  wide-open  doors 
and  daily  prayers,  with  a  large  seating-space, 
yet  with  broad  aisles,  free  to  all,  would,  if  built 


46  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

by  Cliristians  of  all  churches  and  denominations, 
and  maintained  by  them  with  dignity  and  order, 
have  more  to  do  with  reconciling  the  masses  to 
the  Church  of  ^hrist  than  any  one  other  thing 
— than  many  days  passed  in  the  discussion  of 
differences,  than  many  hundredweights  of  pub- 
lished arguments,  advocating  divers  overtures 
and  platforms.  It  would  be  a  visible  presen- 
tation of  the  fact  of  unity.  And  in  this  great 
church  the  preaching  should  be  done  by  the  best 
men  of  all  kinds  and  orders,  clerical  and  lay, 
who  are  believers  in  the  divinity  of  Christ. 

Ah !  my  friends,  you  will  say  I  have  pictured 
for  you  an  ideal;  yet  surely  not  an  ideal  that 
cannot  be  realized.  If  you  have  the  will  to 
help,  if  others  will  have  a  like  will,  this  ideal 
could  be  put  into  shape  and  form  in  a  few  short 
years.  Think  of  the  wonderful  ideal  of  the  peo- 
ple's aspirations  toward  beauty  and  utility  that 
was  presented  in  the  "  Wliite  City  " ;  and  though 
it  has  passed  away  like  the  great  walls  and 
towers  of  some  mighty  city  of  the  clouds,  it  yet 
remains  a  fact  in  the  memory  of  men.  But  the 
ideal  of  which  I  have  spoken — the  ideal  of  spirit- 
uality and  religion — is  not  to  be  built  in  lath 
and  plaster,  but  in  iron  and  stone ;  and  it  is  to 


THE  ALIENATION  OF   THE  MASSES.  47 

stand  as  a  common  House  of  the  hearts  and  souls 
of  men  forever,  the  witness  of  our  united  beUef 
in  our  one  common  Master,  Jesus  the  Christ. 

And  some  such  thing  as  this,  my  friends,  must 
be  done.  The  classes  must  be  united,  even  as  the 
separated  sects  of  the  Church  of  Christ  must  be. 
Humanity  is  on  its  last  gi"eat  trial.  One  by  one 
it  has  called  forth  its  reserve  forces.  First  it 
was  the  king,  then  the  aristocracy,  then  the 
middle  classes,  that  held  the  reins  of  power. 
Now  the  masses  rule.  Christianity  is  the  veri- 
table salt  and  light  of  the  world ;  without  it  there 
could  have  been  no  moral  development  of  civil- 
ization, perhaps  no  development  at  all.  With 
the  loss  of  it  humanity  will  retrograde  and  fall 
back  into  barbarism.  It  was  the  lack  of  moral 
standards  that  was  the  cause  of  the  disintegra- 
tion of  the  ancient  empires  of  the  world.  We 
have  therefore  a  duty  to  perform.  We  must 
bring  the  masses  back  into  the  churches — into 
the  Church  of  Christ ;  for  the  Church,  and  noth- 
ing less,  is  the  teacher  of  the  doctrines  of  our 
Lord.  It  is  to  it,  and  to  nothing  less,  that  He 
has  given  power  to  conquer  the  evils  of  the 
world. 

And  we  can  bring  the  masses  into  the  Church, 


48  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

I  am  sure,  if  we  will  do  two  things — namely, 
close  up  the  gap  between  the  classes  and  the 
masses,  and  unite  the  dissevered  sects  of  Chris- 
tendom. The  work  is  herculean,  but  by  God's 
help  it  cannot  fail.  Our  Lord  Himself  has  said 
that  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
His  Church ;  much  less,  then,  shall  the  weakness 
and  wickedness  of  men. 


IV. 

THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  YOUNG. 

"The  wolf  also  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard 
shall  lie  down  with  the  kid ;  and  the  calf  and  the  young  lion  and 
the  fatling  together;  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them." — IsA. 
xi.  6. 

There  is  a  passage  in  Professor  Drummond's 
"  Ascent  of  Man  "  which  is  so  expressive  of  the 
power  and  value  of  childhood  that  I  could  not 
but  consider  it  to  be  inspired  were  it  not  that 
he  evidently  had  in  mind,  when  he  wrote  it,  the 
prophecy  that  I  have  quoted  from  the  Book  of 
Isaiah.  It  reads :  "  Love,  then,  is  no  necessary 
ingi'edient  of  the  sex  relation ;  it  is  not  the  out- 
growth of  passion.  Love  is  love,  and  has  always 
been  love,  and  has  never  been  anything  lower. 
Whence,  then,  came  it  ?  If  neither  the  husband 
nor  the  wife  bestowed  this  gift  upon  the  world, 
who  did!  It  was  a  little  child.  Till  this  ap- 
peared man's  affection  was  non-existent,  woman's 
was  frozen.  The  man  did  not  love  the  woman, 
the  woman  did  not  love  the  man.    But  one  day 

49 


50  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

from  its  mother's  very  heart,  from  a  shrine  which 
her  husb*and  never  visited  nor  knew  was  there, 
which  she  herself  dared  scarce  acknowledge,  a 
child  drew  forth  the  first  fresh  bud  of  a  love 
which  was  not  passion,  a  love  which  was  not 
selfish,  a  love  which  was  ^n  incense  from  its 
Maker,  and  whose  fragrance  from  that  hour 
went  forth  to  sanctify  the  world." 

And  this  statement  experience  confirms.  All 
experience,  I  say,  confirms  the  fact  that  the  lit- 
tle child  is  the  great  embodiment  of  the  summum 
bonum  of  the  world;  that  it  is  the  chief  means 
of  its  propagation;  that  it  is  the  best  way  for 
the  exercise  of  its  power.  I  have  not  time,  with, 
the  objective  points  I  have  in  mind,  to  show  you 
how  necessary  it  was  that  love  in  its  fullness 
should  «ome  into  the  world  as  a  little  child; 
how  imperative  it  was  that  that  child  should  be 
born  of  a  virgin  without  taint  of  passion.  I 
have  done  this  on  another  occasion. 

First,  I  desire  to  draw  your  attention  to  the 
fact  that  childhood  is  the  glory  of  Christendom ; 
that  it  alone  has  made  peace  between  the  con- 
flicting feelings  and  interests  of  men;  that  it 
alone  has  modified  and  softened  the  harshness 
of  the  hearts  of  our  rough  progenitors,  as  they 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  YOUNG.      51 

perceived  in  each  child  the  image  of  God,  who 
was  made  flesh,  and  who  came  as  a  little  child 
into  the  world. 

Secondly,  I  desire  to  show  you  how  great  is 
the  obligation  that  rests  upon  us  to  protect  and 
educate  little  children.  That  this  obligation  is 
a  primary  one  we  have  always  known;  but  I 
think  we  have  never  appreciated  the  magnitude 
of  it  until  we  learned  to  see  that  childhood  is  the 
flower  of  our  race,  and,  since  Christ  was  born, 
that  the  education  of  children  is  the  distinguish- 
ing mark  of  civilization. 

Thirdly,  and  chiefly,  I  desire  to  study  with  you 
the  best  ways  of  protecting  and  educating  little 
children.  But  before  proceeding  to  a  particular 
examination  of  the  best  ways  and  methods  of 
protecting  and  educating  children,  let  me  call 
your  attention  to  the  two  great  laws  which  gov- 
ern all  growth,  and  especially  the  growth  of  the 
life  of  mankind;  namely,  the  law  of  heredity 
and  the  law  of  environment.  Among  all  the 
laws  that  have  come  into  prominence  during 
the  past  half-century,  none  is  more  important 
than  that  of  heredity.  It  was,  to  be  sure,  recog- 
nized as  a  factor  in  the  life  of  men  in  all  ages ; 
but  just  to  what  degree  it  was  a  factor  was  never 


52  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

ascertained  until  recently.  It  was  strange,  too, 
that  no  one  thought  of  examining  the  law  of 
heredity  scientifically.  Many  of  the  Greek  trag- 
edies were  founded  upon  it,  and  it  was  promul- 
gated with  terrific  emphasis  from  Sinai  in  the 
second  commandment  of  God :  "  I  the  Lord  thy 
God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of 
the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  Me;  and 
showing  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love 
Me,  and  keep  My  commandments."  It  is  evolu- 
tion that  has  brought  the  law  of  heredity  into 
so  great  prominence;  for  evolution  works  by 
two  factors,  namely,  by  heredity — by  the  things 
which  tend  to  permanence — and  by  environment 
— ^by  the  things  which  conduce  to  variation.  The 
characteristic  of  heredity  may  be  stated  in  this 
way:  that  it  produces  the  past;  the  character- 
istic of  environment,  that  it  adapts  ^he  past  to 
new  conditions. 

Now  the  question  arises.  Is  heredity  an  irre- 
sistible force?  Must  that  which  is  potential  in 
life  manifest  itself  I  And  we  answer.  No,  not  al- 
ways ;  the  traits  that  are  hereditary  can  always 
be  modified;  they  can  often  be  changed.  But 
there  are  certain  general  physical  and  mental 


■  THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  YOUNG.      53 

traits  which  cannot  be  changed.  For  example, 
a  negi'o  will  always  be  a  negro,  but  a  Hottentot 
may  be  a  savage  or  a  Christian  gentleman ;  and 
the  means  of  modifying  his  traits  is  environ- 
ment or  education.  It  has  been  supposed  until 
recently  that  heredity  is  always  a  stronger  fac- 
tor than  environment;  and  this  was  supposed 
because,  within  the  limitations  I  have  noted, 
heredity  is  the  stronger,  and  therefore  appeared 
to  be  always  dominant ;  but  closer  examination 
of  the  phenomena  of  life  has  shown  that,  out- 
side of  these  limitations,  environment  is  the 
stronger.  Had  it  not  been  so  there  could  have 
been  no  progress;  and  progress  is  the  way,  the 
mode  of  life,  of  the  world. 

Man  is  a  creature  of  mixed  natural  biases; 
there  are  in  him  things  which  tend  to  good  and 
things  which  tend  to  evil.  The  law  of  heredity, 
as  science  interprets  it,  avers  that  there  is  a  ten- 
dency in  the  evil  as  well  as  in  the  good  to  per- 
petuate itseK;  and  so  the  great  question  arises, 
Can  hereditary  good  be  protected  and  preserved, 
and  hereditary  evil  be  modified  and  changed? 
Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  evidence  on  this 
question.  Dugdale,  who  has  written  a  history 
of  the  Jukes  family — a  family  of  criminals  of 


54  CIVIC  CHKISTIANITl. 

several  generations — says  that  "when  the  organ- 
ization is  not  structurally  modified  (as  in  idiocy  or 
insanity)  or  organically  weak,  and  where  conduct 
depends  on  knowledge  of  moral  obligation,  envi- 
ronment is  stronger  than  heredity."  And  to  the 
same  effect  spoke  Mr.  William  M.  F.  Eound  in 
the  Forum  for  September,  1893.  "  I  have,"  says 
he,  "  seen  repeatedly  the  most  virtuous  children 
of  the  most  vicious  parents;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  have  known  the  childi*en  of  the  most 
virtuous  parents  to  turn  out  the  most  hardened 
criminals  and  the  most  troublesome  social  sub- 
jects to  deal  with.  .  .  .  Physical  conditions  likely 
to  promote  criminality  aside,  I  believe  that  the 
child  of  the  thief,  apart  from  his  environment 
and  possible  training,  starts  well-nigh  as  fairly 
in  the  race  of  life  as  the  child  of  the  average 
citizen.  It  is  environment  and  training,  not 
heredity,  that  give  the  most  favorable  condition 
for  the  development  of  the  criminal  impulse." 

And  if  for  the  development  of  the  criminal 
impulse,  why  not  for  the  moral  ?  And  this  testi- 
mony of  Dugdale  and  of  Round  is  confirmed  by 
experience.  The  Elmira  Reformatory  was  estab- 
lished in  New  York  State  some  eighteen  years 
ago,  to  take  charge  of  the  boys  and  young  men 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  YOUNG.      55 

who  were  adjudged  to  be  bad.  Its  reports  show 
that  more  than  eighty  percent,  of  the  young  men 
who  were  turned  out,  after  an  education  in  things 
mental,  moral,  and  physical,  have  become  good. 
And  to  the  same  effect  is  the  testimony  of  the 
Christian  Brothers  of  Manchester,  who  have 
taken  upon  themselves  to  reform  the  street 
Arabs  of  that  great  manufacturing  city.  They 
gather  up  the  young,  then  they  form  them  into 
boys'  brigades,  and  then  they  put  them  in  their 
reformatories  and  educate  them.  And  they  re- 
port that  eighty-seven  percent,  of  these  poor, 
degraded  children  have  been  reformed  and  made 
into  useful,  respectable  men.  And  who  will  tell 
of  the  loving  labors  of  the  late  Charles  Loring 
Brace,  of  New  York,  and  of  good  Dr.  Barnardo, 
of  London,  in  rescuing  the  waifs  and  strays  of 
these  great  cities  from  sin  and  sickness,  and  re- 
forming them  into  the  images  of  God ! 

But  I  did  not  desire  to  speak  upon  this,  the 
reforming  side  of  education.  I  have  brought 
these  facts  to  your  minds  so  that  you  could  see 
and  know  its  mighty,  godlike  power.  I  wish  to 
speak  with  you  upon  the  best  ways  and  methods 
of  protecting  and  educating  children  in  general. 
But  before  doing  this,  let  me  make  a  resume  of 


56  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

what  I  have  ah-eady  said :  that  the  little  child  is 
the  greatest  thing  in  the  world,  and  that  though 
heredity  counts  for  much  in  its  life,  outside  of 
certain  traits,  education  is  stronger  than  it.  It 
is  not  necessary,  I  am  sure,  to  point  out  that  the 
proper  time  for  education  is  during  childhood. 

I  cannot  enter  upon  a  thorough  discussion  of 
all  the  ways  and  methods  of  education ;  I  have 
not  the  time.  I  have  only  time  to  point  out  to 
you  the  lines  that  it  should  follow.  And  it  is 
these  lines  that  we  should  get  into  our  minds ; 
for  if  we  do  so,  all  other  things  as  to  ways  and 
methods  will  fall  logically  into  their  places  in  a 
natural  sequence.  There  is  in  a  child  a  body 
and  there  is  a  mind,  and  there  are  also  moral 
possibilities  and  religious  aspirations.  The  body 
and  the  mind  are  self-evident ;  moral  possibilities 
and  religious  aspirations  are  evident  only  be- 
cause we  have  discovered  them  in  ourselves  and 
have  heard  of  them  in  others.  The  intellectual 
apparatus — the  mind — of  the  child  has  for  many 
generations  received  great  attention;  its  moral 
nature  has  received  some,  and  so  have  its  re- 
ligious aspirations;  but  its  physical  framework 
has  been  completely  ignored.  Let  us  look  first 
at  this.    But  before  so  doing,  let  me  speak  to 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  YOUNG.      57 

you  of  the  horror  of  our  modern  industrial  sys- 
tem; of  the  employment  (I  ought  to  say  en- 
slavement) of  children  in  our  gi-eat  stores  and 
factories.  When  we  think  of  the  health  and 
preservation  of  society  alone  we  ought  to  de- 
clare that  such  a  thing  ought  not  to  be;  and 
when  we  think  of  the  dignity  and  worth  of 
childhood  itself  we  ought  to  determine  that  such 
a  thing  shall  not  be.  How  can  the  boys  and  the 
girls  who  are  set  to  work  at  a  tender  age  learn 
to  become  and  to  be  intelligent  members  of  the 
great  American  commonwealth  ?  How  can  they 
become  the  strong  fathers  and  mothers  of  virile 
offspring!  The  ignorance  and  the  sickliness  of 
the  poor  children  who  grow  up  in  shops  and 
mills  and  mines  are  proverbial;  and  to  know 
that  little  children  who  ought  to  be  free  to  enjoy 
the  bounty  of  our,  and  their,  Father  in  heaven 
are  shut  up  in  some  big,  grimy,  oily  mill,  or 
poked  down  in  some  deep,  dark,  dingy  mine,  is 
enough  to  make  the  heart  sick. 

I  know  that  it  is  said  (and  the  saying  is,  alas ! 
often  true)  that  it  is  necessary  at  times  that  chil- 
dren should  work,  to  support  their  invalided 
fathers  and  widowed  mothers ;  but  it  ought  not 
to  be  necessary ;  society  should  find  some  other 


58  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

way  to  relieve  misfortune — some  way  of  insur- 
ance and  the  like.  All  the  world  agrees  that 
part  of  "  pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  God 
and  the  Father  is  this,  To  visit  the  fatherless  and 
widows  in  their  affliction  " ;  it  agrees  to  this,  at 
least  in  theory.  It  needs  but  the  strong  deter- 
mination of  some  big-hearted  men  to  make  the 
theory  a  reality.  Anyway,  no  girl  under  sixteen 
and  no  boy  under  fifteen  should  be  permitted  to 
work  for  daily  wages.  Child  labor  should  be 
abolished  in  favor  of  child  education.  And  at 
whatever  age  the  young  begin  to  work,  it  should 
be  always  imder  certain  limitations  and  restric- 
tions. 

It  seems  strange  that  so  little  has  been  done 
to  teach  the  child  how  to  use  its  bodily  frame. 
For  the  body  of  the  man,  if  we  may  trust  the 
conclusion  of  the  scientific  philosophers,  is  one 
of  the  great  terminal  points  in  the  evolution  of 
nature — one,  that  is,  of  its  greatest  works ;  yet 
we,  for  the  most  part,  regard  the  body  as  a 
mere  case  for  the  mind.  That  it  is  something 
far  greater  it  is  not  necessary  to  set  forth  by 
anatomical  detail.  Surely  if  it  were  not  the 
greatest  work  of  nature  the  "Word  of  God  would 
never  have  been  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE-  YOUNG.  59 

US !  And  see  how  the  Word  treated  the  body — 
that  is,  how  He  educated  it.  It  is  a  simple  story, 
simply  told.  "Is  not,"  it  was  asked  of  Him — "  is 
not  this  the  carpenter "? "  "  Is  not  this  the  car- 
penter's son  1 "  Jesus  Christ  learned  a  trade ;  He 
learned  to  use  His  hands,  the  most  wonderful 
pieces  of  mechanism  known  to  all  creation ;  the 
things  that  distinguish  man  above  all  other  forms 
of  life,  backed  as  he  is  by  the  mighty  brain. 

But  what  do  we  do  for  our  children  1  Do  we 
teach  them  how  to  use  their  hands — how  to 
work  at  a  trade!  Not  often;  we  teach  the  girl 
children  sometimes  how  to  sew,  and  occasion- 
ally how  to  do  housework,  and  that  not  always 
in  the  best  and  most  approved  ways.  The  boys, 
if  they  are  of  the  wealthy  or  middle  classes,  are 
not  taught  anything  of  manual  labor,  nor  are 
the  poor  boys  taught  much  thereof.  Here  and 
there,  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  and  Bos- 
ton, trade  and  working-men's  schools  have  been 
established.  Chicago  is  about  to  fall  in  line,  and 
Indianapolis  has  done  so ;  but  Detroit,  beset  so 
much  by  sentimental  charity,  bereft  so  much  of 
practical,  has  an  Industrial  School  where  some 
modeling  and  some  carving  were  once  taught, 
but  which  is,  for  the  most  part  (or  was  until 


(JO  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

recently),  simply  a  school  for  indigent  children. 
The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  made 
a  small  beginning  of  a  class  in  manual  educa- 
tion. But  the  great  scheme  that  was  put  forth 
a  few  years  ago  to  establish  a  technical  school  in 
our  city  has  fallen  through.  What  is  the  matter 
with  the  men  and  the  women  of  Detroit  ?  Why 
will  they  not  stop  and  think?  Trade-schools 
are  the  greatest  desiderata  of  the  day;  and  one 
such  school,  well  equipped,  would  do  more  good 
for  the  oncoming  generation  than  a  hundi'ed  re- 
formatory institutions ;  and  this,  as  I  have  shown, 
the  reformatory  institutions  demonstrate  beyond 
cavil.  The  kindergartens  make  a  beginning  of 
teaching  children  how  to  use  their  hands,  and 
our  Industrial  School  has  done  much  to  advo- 
cate and  to  assist  in  the  establishment  of  these 
most  useful  beginnings  of  a  better  system  of 
education;  but  the  kindergartens  only  make  a 
beginning.  It  is  high  time  that  the  public  author- 
ities took  them  up  and  added  them  to  the  edu- 
cational curriculum  of  the  city  on  one  end,  and 
at  the  same  time  technical  schools  on  the  other. 
But  do  not  let  me  be  understood  as  advocating 
manual  training  simply  for  the  poor — for  those 
who  must  perforce  earn  their  living  by  their 


THE  EDUCATION  OE  THE  YOtNG.  6l 

hands;  I  advocate  it  for  all  the  youth  of  the 
laud.     And  for  two  reasons : 

First,  because  truth  and  fact  can  nowhere  be 
learned  so  easily  as  in  making  something  that  is 
correct  in  the  concrete ;  and  truth  and  fact  are 
the  bases  of  morality.  It  has  been  ascertained 
by  a  clergyman  of  our  church  who  has  inter- 
ested himself  in  this  great  question  that  whereas 
many  of  the  graduates  of  the  common  schools 
have  been  convicted  of  crime  and  sent  to  the 
penitentiaries,  comparatively  few  of  the  gradu- 
ates of  the  trade-schools  have  become  criminals. 

And  some  most  remarkable  testimony  has 
come  to  me  since  writing  the  above,  in  the  Jan- 
uary number  of  the  Beview  of  Reviews.  In  an 
article  on  the  Industrial  Christian  Alliance  of 
New  York,  Mr.  MiUbury,  the  founder  and  man- 
ager of  the  same,  says,  speaking  of  the  drift  of 
human  debris  that  comes  to  the  net  of  the  associ- 
ation for  salvation :  "  Careful  individual  records 
are  kept,  showing :  First,  that  foreigners  or  sons 
of  foreigners  do  not  predominate.  Second,  that 
few  men  apply  for  help  who  have  learned  a  trade ; 
the  prolonged  discipline  a  boy  receives  in  learn- 
ing a  trade  compels  regular  habits,  which  be- 
come a  bulwark  against  shiftlessness  and  the 


go  Ci\lC  CHRISl^lANlTY. 

evils  that  attend  it.  Third,  that  the  men  who 
demand  most  deserve  least.  Fourth,  that  boys 
born  in  the  slums  become  toughs  or  criminals, 
but  outcast  beggars  rarely ;  their  boyhood's  fierce 
fight  for  existence  develops  self-reliance.  Fifth, 
that  a  sorrowfully  large  proportion  have  begun 
life  brilliantly,  with  every  advantage  of  birth 
and  education." 

Secondly,  because  if  all  the  youth  of  the  land 
were  educated  in  manual  labor  there  would  be  a 
closeness  of  touch,  and  consequently  a  rapproche- 
ment and  more  of  sympathy,  between  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men ;  and  labor  would  be  dig- 
nified. The  dread  of  work  that  soils  the  hands 
and  clothing  would  disappear,  and  a  school  of 
American  workmen  would  arise  that  would  be  at 
once  the  honor  and  the  safeguard  of  the  nation. 
How  can  manual  labor  appear  other  than  dis- 
graceful to  the  rich,  when  only  those  who  can- 
not escape  it  are  forced  into  the  ranks  of  the 
working-men?  Not  that  manual  labor  is  dis- 
graceful; but  it  is  disgraceful  that  young  men 
who  are  forced  to  work  with  their  hands  are  put 
so  often  to  school  in  the  employment  of  some 
rough  master,  where  they  receive  but  little  else 
than  kicks  and  "  a  pull "  now  and  then  at  "  the 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  YOUNG.      63 

growler,"  and  learn  their  trade  as  best  they  can. 
No  wonder  that  so  many  of  our  workmen  receive 
as  much  cursing  as  coin. 

Of  the  education  of  the  mind  it  is  not  neces- 
saiy  to  speak.  Most  of  the  States  of  the  Union 
have  been  zealous  in  developing  their  systems  of 
mental  education ;  Michigan  stands  in  the  very 
front  rank  of  them,  and  on  the  top  of  her  excel- 
lent common  schools  is  placed  the  admirable  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  at  Ann  Arbor,  with  its  hun- 
dreds of  devoted  professors  and  its  thousands  of 
hard-working,  enthusiastic  students.  But  while 
we  congratulate  ourselves  on  the  common  schools 
and  the  State  universities  of  the  land,  we  must 
remember  that  for  the  most  part  they  help  only 
to  create  a  nimbleness  of  mind ;  and  nimbleness 
of  mind  means  nimbleness  in  the  acquisition  of 
wealth — the  great  idol  of  the  American  people. 
Far  more  is  done  for  the  education  of  the  well- 
to-do  in  the  higher  branches  of  knowledge  than 
for  the  education  of  the  masses  of  the  country 
in  the  few  underlying  facts  and  truths  of  educa- 
tion. Indeed,  while  room  is  always  made  for 
the  young  in  the  high  schools  and  universities, 
they  are  crowded  out  by  the  thousands  from 
the  primary  schools,  and  they  never  have  a  suf- 


64  civic  CHRISTIANITY. 

iicient  number  of  instructors  in  the  rudiments  of 
knowledge. 

But  I  must  pass  on  to  the  moral  and  religious 
education  of  the  young — to  the  things  that  con- 
cern the  preservation  as  well  as  the  well-being 
of  society.  Where  do  children  get  their  training 
in  morality  and  religion?  At  home,  of  course, 
some  training  is  given  in  morals  and  some  in  re- 
ligion, but  not  much.  Children  are  commanded 
not  to  lie,  and  they  are  taught  "to  say  their 
prayers";  and  that  about  sums  up  the  training 
they  receive  at  home  in  the  greatest  things  of  life. 
Morality  is  left  for  the  day-schools  to  teach,  and 
religion  for  the  Sunday-schools. 

I  want,  in  this  connection,  to  point  out  to  you 
something  that  is  working  great  harm  to  the 
children  of  the  country,  and  yet  for  which  no 
adequate  remedy  can  at  present  be  found.  I 
have  reference  to  the  shutting  out  of  religion 
from  the  public  schools.  I  cannot  enter  upon  a 
full  discussion  of  the  reasons  why  this  thing  has 
been  done,  except  to  say,  even  as  you  know,  that 
the  authorities  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church 
some  thirty  years  ago  averred  that  the  religion 
taught  in  the  public  schools  was  not  fair  to  their 
claims,  and  that  the  teaching  of  Christianity  by 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  YOUNG.      (jy 

public-school  teachers  ought  therefore  to  cease. 
"We  are  a  part  of  the  nation,"  they  said;  "we 
pay  our  share  of  the  taxes ;  it  is  not  right  that 
instruction  should  be  given  in  religion  in  such 
ways  that  it  hurts  us."  And  the  American  peo- 
ple are  just;  they  said,  "Well,  if  this  is  so,  in- 
struction in  religion  must  cease  in  our  public 
schools."  And  so  religion — the  thing  of  chiefest 
importance  to  men — is  left  out  of  all  the  hours 
of  teaching  during  the  week,  and  is  crowded  into 
a  single  hour  on  Sunday.  We  do  our  best  in 
the  hour  given  us ;  but  how  poor  our  best  is  is 
attested  by  every  honest  Sunday-school  publica- 
tion in  the  land.  They  publish  confession  after 
confession  of  shortcoming  and  defeat. 

But  how  about  morality?  Cannot  morality 
be  taught  in  the  public  schools  ?  Not  very  well. 
It  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  attempt  to  teach  chil- 
dren the  best  ways  of  living  by  teaching  them  a 
few  abstract  principles.  There  must  be  a  prac- 
tical, a  concrete  example  of  morality  placed  be- 
fore them,  or  they  will  learn  only  by  the  intel- 
lect; and  morality  is  a  matter  of  the  heart. 
And  this  teaching  of  morality  by  example  is 
only  in  line  with  the  best  methods  of  instruction 
in  other  things.    Drawing  is  no  more  taught  by 


66  CIVIC  CHEISTIANITY. 

saying  to  a  child,  "  Draw  an  imaginary  straight 
line;  draw  so  many  imaginary  curves."  It  is 
taught  from  geometrical  blocks  and  casts.  And 
so  botany  is  not  taught  to-day  by  saying  that 
the  flowers  have  such  and  such  stamens,  petals, 
and  the  rest,  but  by  pointing  to  the  flower,  and 
showing  its  parts  and  their  utility  and  function. 
And  if  morality  is  to  be  taught  by  example, 
where  shall  we  go  for  an  example  ?  To  Buddha  1 
I  have  a  great  affection  for  the  "  light  of  India," 
but  I  refuse  to  go  for  my  morality  to  a  man  who 
went  away  and  left  his  wife  and  children.  Shall 
I  go  to  Socrates!  I  like  the  shaggy  old  man, 
but  he  was  a  vulgar  citizen  at  the  best,  and  just 
before  his  death  commanded  Crito  not  to  forget 
the  cock  he  had  vowed  to  ^sculapius.  No,  no ; 
we  can  go  nowhere  but  to  Jesus  the  Christ,  and 
this  leads  us  to  religion. 

I  claim  that  morality  cannot  be  taught  with- 
out recourse  to  religion;  without  pointing  out 
to  scholars  that  its  great  rules  rest  always  upon 
religious  sanctions ;  and  I  was  astonished,  in  the 
course  of  some  reading,  to  discover  that  Dr.  Felix 
Adler,  of  the  Society  for  Ethical  Cultui-e,  took 
the  same  view  of  the  indissoluble  association  of 
these  two  great  things.    In  a  note  to  an  article 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  YOUNG.      67 

written  by  himself  in  the  Ethical  Record  for 
July,  1889,  he  says :  "  I  have  confined  myself  in 
the  above  to  speaking  of  moral  instruction.  Re- 
ligious instruction  is  also  given  in  our  classes. 
It  consists  chiefly  of  the  study  of  the  best  spirit- 
ual literature,  ancient  and  modern,  including,  of 
course,  the  choicest  passages  from  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  But  it  should  be  remembered 
that  Plato  at  one  end  of  the  line  and  Emerson 
at  the  other  are  as  important  in  their  way  as 
Isaiah  and  St.  Paul.  I  believe  that  a  first-hand 
acquaintance  with  the  best  spiritual  literature  of 
the  world  is  indispensable  to  a  genuine  spiritual 
culture.  A  series  of  lectures  to  the  oldest  pupils 
on  the  practical  philosophy  of  life  is  designed  to 
conclude  a  system  of  religious  teaching."  And 
it  is  precisely  to  this  same  effect  that  Professor 
George  Herbert  Palmer  wrote  in  the  Forum  for 
January,  1893.  I  shall  not  quote  from  that  arti- 
cle at  length ;  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  he  main- 
tains by  the  most  cogent  reasoning  that  not 
morality,  but  only  ethics  can  be  taught  in  the 
public  schools ;  and  to  attempt  to  teach  children 
ethics  —  which  is  theory  —  without  practice  — 
which  is  morality — is,  says  he,  "  dangerous  busi- 
ness," and  has  "  but  the  slenderest  chance  of  sue- 


63  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

cess."  "  The  idea  that  a  boy's  mora  education 
can  be  fashioned  by  his  teacher  in  the  same  way 
as  his  education  in  geography  is  fantastic." 

My  friends,  do  we  not  know  that  children  are, 
above  all  things,  religious!  The  faith  of  the 
little  child  is  proverbial.  What  a  sin  it  is,  then, 
to  keep  from  them  the  knowledge  of  the  things 
that  make  up  so  much  of  their  happiness;  that 
cause  to  spring  up  in  their  hearts  an  apprecia- 
tion of  the  greatness  and  of  the  glory  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven !  What  a  shame  it  is  not 
to  teach,  little  children  the  truths  that  will  make 
them,  as  men,  to  desire  to  be  as  children  are — to 
be,  that  is,  in  a  state  wherein  they  feel  that  they 
are  beloved  of,  and  that  they  love,  their  God ! 

And  this  is  the  wonder  of  childhood :  all  that 
we  teach  little  children  we  teach  ourselves.  They 
learn  and  we  learn  many  a  lesson,  many  a  task, 
many  an  aspiration;  but,  above  all,  they  learn 
and  we  learn  love  as  a  fact ;  and  when  it  is  once 
so  learned  it  can  never  be  lost,  but  must  inevi- 
tably transform  us  and  all  our  nature  more  and 
more  into  the  image  of  Him  who  came  into  the 
world  as  a  little  child. 


V. 

THE  PEEVENTION  OF  CKIME  AND  THE  EEFOKMATION 
OF  CRIMINALS.* 

"I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  Me." — Matt.  xxv.  36. 

I  WISH  to  speak  to  you  to-day  upon  some  ques- 
tions of  penology — the  reasons  why  we  should 
interest  ourselves  in  ascertaining,  and  putting 
into  effect,  the  best  methods  that  will  secure 
the  best  results  in  the  prevention  of  crime  and 
the  reformation  of  criminals.  It  will  be  well, 
perhaps,  before  entering  particularly  into  our 
subject,  to  call  to  mind  the  Christian  principle 
which  underlies  the  duty  of  visiting  prisoners 
and  seeking  to  do  them  good. 

Christ,  as  you  know,  is  the  Son  of  man,  or,  as 
we  may  say,  the  Son  of  humanity ;  and  therefore 
He  is  part  of,  and  one  with,  every  man  that  has 
lived,  or  does  live,  or  shall  ever  live  in  the  world. 
You  see,  as  He  is  one  with  God,  He  is  one  with 
all  mankind;  and  so  it  is  that  in  the  great  and 

*  Preached  Octolier,  1893. 
69 


70  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

terrible  day  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  come 
with  all  His  holy  angels,  He  identifies  Himself 
with  each  man  that  has  ever  lived.  He  says  to 
the  assembled  nations,  as  He  separates  the  good 
from  the  bad,  the  approved  from,  the  unap- 
proved: "Come,  ye  blessed  of  My  Father,  in- 
herit the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world :  for  I  was  a  hungered, 
and  ye  gave  Me  meat:  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye 
gave  Me  drink :  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took 
Me  in :  naked,  and  ye  clothed  Me :  I  was  sick, 
and  ye  visited  me :  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came 
unto  Me." 

You  perceive  that  Christ  identifies  Himself 
here  with  every  hungry  and  thirsty  and  starving 
and  naked  and  sick  man,  with  every  prisoner, 
who  shall  ever  have  been  in  the  world.  Ah, 
wonderful  condescension !  How  it  should  teach 
us  to  care  for,  to  provide  for,  to  work  for,  the 
unfortunate  sons  of  man !  And  mark,  I  do  not 
speak  of  the  rewards  that  shall  be  given  to  those 
who  shall  care  and  provide  and  work  for  Christ 
in  the  ways  He  has  pointed  out.  I  wish  to  draw 
your  attention  now  to  the  reason  why  we  should 
do  these  things,  as  the  principle  is  laid  down 
in  our  religion.    It  is  because  Jesus  Christ  our 


PREVENTION  OF  CRIME.  71 

Saviour  has  said,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  My  brethren,  ye 
have  done  it  unto  Me." 

But  there  are  other  reasons  (though  this  is  the 
best,  and,  as  best,  sufficient)  why  we  should  inter- 
est ourselves  in  questions  of  penology.  There 
is  the  humanitarian  reason.  There  is  the  eco- 
nomic reason.  There  is  the  reason  that  springs 
out  of  the  necessity  of  self-preservation  and  the 
welfare  of  society. 

The  humanitarian  reason  is  mixed  up,  of 
course,  with  our  religion,  and  will  scarcely  be 
disassociated  from  the  teaching  of  Christ;  that 
is,  we  learn  to  love  humanity  only  as  we  have 
seen  that  we  ought  to  do  so  after  the  precept 
and  example  of  the  Master  of  life.  Still,  men 
have  endeavored  to  arouse  an  enthusiasm  for 
erring  humanity  apart  from  the  teaching  of 
Christ;  and  we  will  let  this  enthusiasm  pass 
without  any  discussion  of  the  fact  that  without 
Christ's  teaching  they  never  would  have  been 
able  to  do  so. 

There  is  a  human  reason  why  men  should  be 
interested  in  the  reformation  of  the  life  and 
characters  of  other  men ;  it  is  this :  because  they 
believe  at  the  bottom  of  their  souls  that  all  men 


72  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

are  brothers,  and,  as  the  Greek  poet  puts  it,  "the 
offspring  of  God."  They  beheve  this  out  of  their 
inner  consciousness,  and  they  are  convinced  of  it 
through  the  wonderful  story  of  heredity.  Just 
think  of  it !  "When  we  count  up  we  find  that  in 
the  twentieth  generation  back  of  us  we  have  a 
million  of  ancestors ;  and  the  twentieth  genera- 
tion means  simply  going  back  to  the  twelfth  or 
thirteenth  century.  .Admitting  that  w^hen  ex- 
amined critically  this  computation  will  be  shorn 
of  its  proportions  by  reason  of  consanguineous 
marriages,  the  fact  remains  that  every  human 
being  has  had  within  recent  times  a  multitude  of 
ancestors.  And  when  we  carry  the  story  back 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  when  the 
world  was  small  and  men  but  few  in  number,  we 
must  see  that  we  all  have  running  in  our  veins 
the  same  blood.  Men  are  brothers  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  feeling,  and  the  old  question  that  was  asked 
by  Cain  in  the  dawn  of  history  is  answered  now 
by  the  affirmation  of  all — we  are  our  brothers' 
keepers. 

The  second  reason  why  we  should  interest 
ourselves  in  the  best  ways  for  the  reformation 
of  criminals  is,  as  I  said,  the  economic  one. 
"Man,"  as  says  Aristotle,  "is  a  social  being," 


PREVENTION  OF   CRIME.  73 

and  he  must  live  in  a  society.  He  does  live  in 
a  society.  He  has  really  no  place  in  the  world 
outside  of  society.  The  society  in  which  man 
lives  is  the  state.  We  call  the  state  in  North 
America  the  United  States,  but  it  is  a  different 
thing.  The  United  States  is  the  government; 
the  state  is  the  government,  the  land,  the  in- 
habitants, their  multitudinous  relationships  the 
one  to  the  other,  the  general  social  well-being, 
the  particular  individual  social  welfare. 

The  state  is  a  whole — the  whole  of  all  the 
distinct  and  separate  things  and  people  around 
and  about  which  its  shield  is  thrown ;  and,  as  it 
is  made  up  of  living  men  and  women  and  chil- 
dren, it  has  life  in  it ;  and,  as  it  has  life,  it  is  not 
an  aggregation,  but  an  organism.  Now  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  the  general  well-being  of  the 
state — a  general  health  and  vitality ;  and  in  this 
general  health  and  vitality  all  who  are  parts  of 
the  state  should  rejoice  and  participate. 

But  suppose  there  are  some  parts  of  the  state 
that  are  weak  and  diseased:  what  then?  The 
general  health  of  the  state  will  suffer,  and  in  the 
decline  of  the  general  health  all  its  members  will 
suffer  together.  It  is  as  clear  as  the  results  of 
addition  and  subtraction.    But  there  is  another, 


74  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

a  subreason — growing  out  of  the  fact  that  the 
state  is  a  whole  and  we  but  parts  of  it — why 
we  should  interest  ourselves  in  the  reformation 
of  criminals — the  reason  that  touches  our  pock- 
ets. It  costs  an  immense  amount  of  money  to 
maintain  a  strong  force  of  police,  sheriffs,  and 
jurors,  innumerable  police  courts,  great  hotel- 
like prisons.  I  shall  not  resort  to  statistics;  but 
the  cost  of  all  these  things,  as  assessed  upon  the 
counties  or  the  state  at  large,  is  enormous.  How 
much  less  it  would  cost  to  educate  the  criminal 
or  the  would-become  criminal  so  that  he  would 
learn  to  do  good  and  eschew  evil  I  leave  to  the 
statisticians;  but  you  can  easily  calculate  for 
yourselves  that  it  would  be  much  less. 

The  third  reason,  as  I  have  said,  why  we 
should  do  what  we  can  to  prevent  crime  and  to 
reform  criminals  springs  out  of  the  necessity 
for  self-preservation  and  the  general  social  well- 
being. 

I  do  not  think  it  too  much  to  say  that  what 
men  desire  chiefly  is  peace — the  right  and  privi- 
lege of  living  quietly  and  peacefully  in  their 
respective  stations  without  fear  of  wrong  and 
harm ;  and  to  secure  this  they  know  that  society 
must  be  wholesome  and  sound.     But  how  can 


PREVENTION  OF  CRIME.  75 

society  be  wholesome  and  sound  when  there  is 
a  large  criminal  class,  and  a  still  larger  number 
of  men  and  women  bordering  upon  it,  ready  to 
tumble  in,  ready  to  break  up  the  basis  of  society 
— the  great  number  of  lowly  and  simple  people 
upon  whom  the  social  pyramid  rests  ?  How  can 
society  be  wholesome  and  sound  when  through 
it  all  there  are  men  and  women  who,  but  for 
social  reasons,  would  be  sent  to  school  to  learn 
by  compulsion  to  live  righteously,  since  they 
will  not  learn  to  do  so  by  their  own  perverted 
wills  ?  Said  Mr.  William  M.  F.  Eound,  secretary 
of  the  National  Prison  Association,  in  the  Forum 
for  September  last :  "  No  man  has  a  right  to  com- 
plain if  burglars  enter  his  second-story  windows 
or  blow  up  his  bank  safe,  or  if  he  be  garroted  in 
the  street  or  his  name  forged  to  a  check,  who  has 
not  taken  his  part  as  a  citizen  in  eradicating 
this  dangerous  class."  And  I  say  no  man  has  a 
right  to  complain  if  his  family,  if  he  himself,  is 
tainted  and  made  bad,  who  tolerates  and  covers 
up  the  wicked  acts  and  deeds  of  his  associates 
because  they  are  important  in  the  social  world. 

But  what  is  crime — in  what  does  it  consist? 
Is  it  wrong  thinking  ?  No ;  though  this  is  un- 
doubtedly the  basis  of  it.    Is  it  all  wrong-doing  ? 


76  CIVIC   CHKISTIANITY. 

No.  It  is  wrong-doing  that  the  state  takes  cog- 
nizance of.  All  offenses  punishable  by  law  are 
criminal.  In  the  general  sense — that  is,  in  the 
sense  in  which  I  now  use  it — crime  includes 
every  offense,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  in 
the  grade  of  offenses — both  those  that  are  called 
misdemeanors  and  those  that  are  called  felonies. 
As  a  rule,  let  me  say  that  the  laws  that  define 
what  crimes  are  are  exact.  Most  crimes  are  de- 
fined by  statutes,  though  there  are  some  that  are 
not;  these  are  called  crimes  under  the  common 
law — that  is,  under  the  law  generally  recognized 
in  England,  and  which  has  continued  to  be  rec- 
ognized in  the  United  States. 

I  am  not  going  into  an  enumeration  of  crimes ; 
it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  state  (and  by  the 
state  I  mean  now  both  the  general  government 
of  the  nation  and  the  especial  governments  of 
the  individual  States)  says  to  its  citizens,  "Thou 
shalt  not  do  this,  thou  shalt  do  that" — for  both 
to  do  and  not  to  do  some  things  sometimes  are 
criminal ;  and  the  state  says,  "  If  you  do  this,  if 
you  do  not  do  that,  you  shall  be  punished." 

Let  me  say  that  I  have  no  time  to-day  to  speak 
of  criminal  procedui'e — that  is,  of  how  the  law  in 
regard  to  crime  is  administered,  and  especially 


PEEVENTION  OP  CRIME.  77 

of  how  it  ought  to  be  administered.  We  all 
know — we  who  know  anything  about  it — that 
our  present  criminal  procedure  is  slow,  lax,  and 
inexact;  full  of  loopholes  by  which  the  guilty 
may  escape,  full  of  pitfalls  into  which  the  inno- 
cent may  stumble.  I  would  like  to  raise  my 
voice,  "  trumpet-tongued,"  demanding  a  refor- 
mation of  the  whole  machinery  of  criminal  pro- 
cedure ;  but  I  must  confine  myself  to  my  topic : 
the  prevention  of  crime  and  the  reformation  of 
criminals.  Let  me  say,  however,  in  passing,  that 
the  only  hope  and  stay  of  the  community  to-day 
in  reference  to  criminal  procedure  is  the  just 
and  upright  judge — such  an  one  as  he*  who 
lately  entered  into  the  rest  that  remaineth  for 
the  people  of  God. 

Now,  when  we  regard  the  state  and  the  topic 
of  crime,  two  questions  arise  in  our  minds :  first. 
For  what  end  does  the  state  declare  certain  acts 
of  commission  or  of  omission  to  be  criminal? 
and,  secondly.  Why,  if  such  acts  be  done  or  left 
undone,  does  the  state  punish !  The  state,  as  I 
have  said,  stands  for  the  well-being  of  its  mem- 
bers, i.e.,  its  chiefest  duty  is  to  see  that  its  mem- 

*  The  late  Hon.  George  Sedgwick  Swift,  sometime  junior  war- 
den of  St.  John's  Church,  Detroit. 


78  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

bers  have  life,  peace,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness. All  things,  therefore,  that  interfere  with 
these  great  liberties  upon  the  part  of  all  must  be 
suppressed.  And  if  the  question  arises  upon  the 
part  of  the  individual,  "Can  I  not  do  as  I  please 
with  mine  own  ? "  the  answer  comes,  "  No ;  you 
can  only  so  use  your  own  as  not  to  hurt  an- 
other." Hurt  is  here  meant  in  relation  to  the 
things  the  state  has  declared  to  be  criminal.  We 
are  not  speaking  of  morals;  yet  be  it  observed 
that  all  crimes  are  based  upon  moral  precepts 
as  their  ultimate  sanctions.  The  state,  then,  de- 
clares certain  acts  to  be  criminal  in  order  to 
protect  society,  i.e.,  men  in  relation  to  them- 
selves and  to  the  state.  Yet  let  me  say  that 
though  the  state  says,  "  Thou  shalt  not  do  this, 
thou  shalt  do  that,"  the  best  exponent  of  the 
end  for  which  the  state  exists  is  not  criminal 
law.  Criminal  law  is  in  reality  a  contrary  of 
the  exponent.  The  exponent  of  the  end  is  found 
in  two  words,  according  as  you  look  at  the 
state  from  a  legal  or  from  a  religious  stand- 
point— ^justice,  righteousness.  And  so  it  is  that 
the  state  says  to  her  members  in  the  first  in- 
stance, "  Live  honestly ;  "  and  to  live  honestly,  as 
says  the  old  Eoman  law,  is  "to  hurt  no  one, 


PEEVENTION  OP  CEIME.  79 

and  to  give  each  his  due."  Honeste  vivere,  nem- 
ineni  Icederej  suiim  cuique  trihuere. 

We  have  seen  that  the  end  for  which  the 
state  exists  is  the  well-being  of  all  its  members, 
and  that  this  is  best  promoted  by  the  justice 
and  righteousness  of  all  law;  then  criminal 
law  should  be  such  as  will  best  promote  justice 
and  righteousness.  Should  criminal  law,  there- 
fore, be  vindictive  ?  No ;  a  thousand  times,  no ! 
What  should  it  be,  then  ?  It  should  be  rectify- 
ing, remedial — that  by  which  justice  and  right- 
eousness shall  be  promoted ;  and  by  justice  I  do 
not  mean  exact  justice,  but  conformity  to  right ; 
and  by  righteousness  I  mean  that  conduct  that 
seeks  the  highest  ideal  of  living. 

Punishment  for  crime,  then,  must,  in  my 
opinion,  keep  justice  and  righteousness  immedi- 
ately in  view ;  and  to  secure  these  things  the  ad- 
judged criminal  must  not  simply  be  punished; 
his  conscience  must  be  educated — ^he  must  be 
made  to  see  the  wrongfulness  of  his  deeds,  and 
to  try  in  the  future  to  amend  his  way  of  living. 
He  must  be  made  to  endeavor  to  restore  what  he 
can  to  the  wronged,  and  so  to  regulate  his  con- 
duct as  to  become  better  and  better,  until  right- 
eousness is  attained.     In  other  words,  criminal 


80  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

law  should  have  as  its  ultimate  object  remaking 
and  not  punishment,  though  punishment,  be  it 
observed,  is  to  be  used  as  a  means  to  secure  this 
object. 

And  now  let  me  say  a  word  as  to  preven- 
tion of  crime;  for  prevention  and  reformation 
are  often  identical,  not  in  the  beginning  of  the 
career  of  a  criminal,  but  after  some  crime  has 
been  committed.  How  can  crimes  be  prevented  I 
There  are,  generally  speaking,  but  two  ways: 
by  shutting  a  criminal  up  and  keeping  him 
from  the  society  of  men,  or  by  educating  him — 
teaching  him  the  heinousness  of  wrong-doing, 
and  putting  in  his  heart  the  desire  and  the  de- 
termination to  do  that  which  is  right. 

Let  me  divide  the  topic : 

1.  As  to  the  prevention  of  crime  before  the 
man  (or  the  woman  or  child)  has  been  adjudged 
a  criminal. 

2.  As  to  keeping  a  criminal  shut  up  and  apart 
from  society,  and  so  preventing  crime. 

3.  As  to  the  reformation  of  a  criminal  gener- 
ally, and  so  preventing  him  from  committing 
criminal  acts  in  the  future. 

1.  As  to  the  first  head  of  my  topic,  let  me  say, 
I  believe  that  all  men  can  be  so  educated  as  to 


PREVENTION  OF  CRIME.  gX 

hate  crime  and  to  keep  from  it.  And  I  believe 
that  we  should  educate  them — your  sons  and 
mine,  and  our  neighbor's — so  that  they  will  flee 
from  the  very  appearance  of  evil,  like  as  Lot 
fled  from  Sodom.  And  I  believe  that  it  is  edu- 
cation in  justice  and  righteousness  that  makes 
us  to  avoid  wrong-doing,  rather  than  hereditary 
tendencies  to  goodness.  We  who  are  of  the  edu- 
cated classes  are  supposed  to  inherit  our  virtues, 
but  it  is  not  so ;  we  are  educated  in  them  and  up 
to  them.  Says  Mr.  Round  in  another  place  in 
the  article  I  have  cited:  "I  wish  to  put  myself 
on  record,  after  a  study  of  the  criminal,  and 
contrary  to  my  previous  utterances,  as  going 
squarely  back  to  the  doctrine  of  free  will  as 
laid  down  by  our  fathers ;  and  I  wish  to  be  un- 
derstood distinctly  and  squarely  to  hold  the  doc- 
trine of  moral  responsibility  as  applying  to  every 
sane  individual;  at  the  same  time  making  all 
allowances  for  such  physical  conditions  as  may 
weaken  the  will,  and  in  some  cases  destroy  it. 
I  do  not  believe  for  one  moment  that  crime  is 
a  disease,  nor  by  any  necessity  the  result  of  a 
disease,  though  I  do  believe  that  it  may  be  the 
result  of  disease  in  some  instances.  I  do  not 
believe  that  crime  and  disease  are  identical,  and 


82  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

I  am  almost  afraid  of  the  analogy  between  them, 
lest  humanity's  heritage  of  Freedom  of  the  Will 
be  misunderstood." 

The  will  is  free;  this  God's  revelation  has 
taught  us,  even  as  the  observations  of  men 
teach.  I  cite,  in  further  confii'mation  of  this 
great  principle,  the  words  of  Mr.  Israel  C.  Jones, 
from  an  article  in  the  New  York  Observer.  Mr. 
Jones  was  for  many  years  in  charge  of  the  House 
of  Refuge  on  Randall's  Island,  New  York.  "  I 
am  able,  after  an  experience  of  more  than  forty 
years  with  nearly  twenty  thousand  juvenile  de- 
linquents, to  indorse  Mr.  Round's  views  touch- 
ing the  power  of  heredity  in  criminals  as  a  pre- 
disposing cause  to  crime.  Among  this  large 
number  of  young  offenders  I  can  state  with 
entire  confidence  that  not  one  percent,  were 
childi'en  born  of  criminal  parents;  and  with 
equal  confidence  I  am  able  to  say  that  the  com- 
mon cause  of  their  delinquency  was  found  in 
bad  parental  training,  in  bad  companionship, 
and  in  a  lack  of  wholesome  restraint  from  evil 
associations  and  influences.  It  was  this  know- 
ledge that  led  to  the  establishing  of  the  House 
of  Refuge  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  century 
ago.*^ 


PEEVENTION  OF  CRIME.  83 

You  see,  then,  liow  much  responsibility  rests 
upon  you — upon  you  and  each  of  you — who 
have  brought  children  into  the  world;  the  pre- 
vention of  crime  in  the  first  instance  is  in  the 
hands  of  parents.  They  must  educate,  train, 
their  children  in  justice  and  righteousness  from 
generation  to  generation.  And  what  they  neg- 
lect to  do  the  state  must  do  for  them. 

2.  As  to  the  second  head  of  my  topic  I  want 
to  say  that  I  believe  that  there  are  certain  classes 
of  criminals  that  should  always  be  incarcerated 
and  kept  from  preying  upon  society.  There  are 
some  so  hardened  through  neglect  of  their  edu- 
cation that  they  seem  to  have  lost  the  power,  if 
not  the  desire,  to  do  better.  And  there  are  some 
so  weak  of  mind  that  they  have  never  had  a 
proper  desire  to  do  well.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  state  should  in  these  cases  enact  a  law  that, 
when  a  man  has  twice  been  sentenced  for  a  major 
crime,  or  thrice  for  a  petty  one,  he  should  be 
imprisoned  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  Again,  there 
are  some  crimes  for  which  a  criminal  should  be 
incarcerated  for  life  without  hope  of  pardon, 
and  kept  away  from  the  homes  of  men — to  wit, 
murder,  arson,  and  rape.  Pardon  in  these  cases 
should  be  extended  only  where  new  evidence  has 


84  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

been  discovered,  and  there  has  been  a  failure  of 
justice. 

3.  As  to  the  reformation  of  criminals  gener- 
ally, and  so  preventing  them  from  committing 
criminal  acts  in  the  future,  let  me  say  that  I 
have  anticipated  myself  somewhat  by  showing 
you  that  men  can  be  educated  so  as  to  have 
no  desire  and  no  will  to  commit  criminal  acts, 
though  I  admit  that  experience  shows  that  there 
are  a  few  who  are  exceptions  to  this  broad  rule. 
Leaving  the  exceptions  out  of  consideration,  I 
say  that  men  can  be  so  educated  as  not  to  desire 
to  commit  crimes;  and  that  when  occasionally 
they  lapse  into  evil,  they  can  be  so  educated  as 
not  to  commit  crimes  again.  It  is  a  difficult 
task  to  do  this  after  a  man  has  entered  the  crim- 
inal class,  but  it  can  be  done.  And  this  is  the 
objective  point  of  my  discourse. 

The  States'  prisons  should  not  be  mere  houses 
of  detention,  but  should  be  schools — not  volun- 
tary, but  compulsory  schools — where  the  men 
and  the  women  and  the  children  who  have  been 
adjudged  to  be  criminals  should  be  educated,  re- 
formed, by  men  and  women  of  broad  and  tender 
sympathies,  and  thus  lifted  out  of  the  class  of 
criminals  and  made  respectable  members  of  soci- 


PREVENTION  OF  CRIME.  §5 

ety.  The  only  question  for  the  state — for  us  who 
are  parts  of  it — is,  What  are  the  best  methods  to 
be  employed?  I  cannot  enter  fully  upon  what 
are  the  best  methods,  and  discuss  them  here ;  I 
must  leave  this  topic  to  the  men  who  have  made 
scientific  and  experimental  studies  in  penology ; 
but  this  I  can  say — for  upon  this  all  who  have 
given  any  attention  to  this  gi'eat  subject  have 
agreed — that  no  adjudged  criminal  should  be  sen- 
tenced for  a  definite  term,  but  for  an  indefinite 
time,  the  same  not  to  be  longer  than  the  longest 
term  permitted  by  the  law  for  the  crime.  And  I 
aver  that  no  criminals,  except  those  who  belong 
to  the  second  class  I  have  spoken  of,  should  be 
incarcerated  in  a  prison,  but  in  a  school  or  re- 
formatory where  they  can  be  taught  as  speedily 
as  possible  the  things  that  make  for  justice  and 
righteousness,  and  the  things  that  will  enable 
them  to  earn  a  livelihood  in  some  legitimate 
way;  and  that  as  soon  as  they  shall  have  been 
taught  these  things  and  have  given  assurance  of 
their  reformation,  they  should  be  permitted  to 
go  forth  into  the  world.  I  would  not  have  them 
go  forth,  however,  without  some  check.  They 
should  be  released  on  parole ;  and  then  when  the 
time  of  parole  is  ended,  be  freed  forever  from 


gQ  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

all  control,  unless,  indeed,  they  should  commit 
some  crime  again. 

Of  the  means  that  should  be  employed  in  the 
education  of  criminals  I  have  no  time  to  speak. 
If  you  are  interested,  send  to  the  Elmira  Re- 
formatory in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the 
authorities  will  send  you  books  and  papers  that 
will  make  your  hearts  burn  with  gratitude  for 
the  many  means  that  -Christian  men  have  dis- 
covered to  accomplish  this  end.  And  the  El- 
mira Reformatory  has  not  been  in  existence 
quite  seventeen  years ;  Harvard  College  has  been 
doing  its  work  for  nearly  two  centuries. 

The  Elmira  Reformatory  was  established  by  a 
law  passed  in  the  year  1875.  The  main  idea  is 
this :  When  a  prisoner  shall  be  adjudged  to  be  a 
criminal,  the  court  shall  sentence  him  for  a  time 
not  longer  than  the  longest  term  fixed  as  the 
penalty  for  the  act,  and  not  shorter  than  the 
shortest  term.  The  prisoner  shall  then  be  com- 
mitted to  the  Reformatory  at  Elmira.  Here, 
after  inquiries  and  examinations  made  by  the 
superintendent,  he  is  placed  in  the  second  or 
intermediate  grade,  and  it  depends  upon  him- 
self whether  he  goes  up  to  the  first  or  down  to 
the  third.    He  is  made  to  understand  the  rules 


PKEVENTION  OF  CRIME.  87 

of  behavior,  lie  is  assigned  to  the  class  in  school 
fitted  to  his  capacity,  and  he  is  put  into  the 
workshop  that  is  best  adapted  to  him.  He  is 
informed  of  the  maximum  time  for  which  he 
can  be  detained,  and  that  he  can,  by  perfect  con- 
duct in  all  three  hues  of  effort,  win  his  release 
in  one  year.  And  this  is  the  gi-eat  incentive  to 
reform.  Constant  watch  is  kept,  of  course,  and 
the  prisoner  finds  it  hard  to  play  false.  As  he 
usually  begins  by  trying  to  do  so,  he  goes  rapidly 
from  one  grade  to  another,  until  at  last  he  set- 
tles down  and  gains  the  highest  grade  fairly. 
But  to  do  so  is  not  easy ;  he  has  to  be  perfect  in 
three  things — ^labor,  school,  and  conduct.  If  he 
remains  perfect  in  the  first  gi'ade  for  six  months 
he  may  then,  in  the  discretion  of  the  manager, 
be  sent  out  on  parole.  But  he  is  not  released  on 
parole  until  a  place  is  found  for  him.  If  the 
paroled  continues  to  behave  himself  for  six 
months  he  receives  his  final  discharge;  if  he 
backslides  he  is  rearrested  and  brought  back, 
and  must  begin  over  again.  The  Elmira  Refor- 
matory reports  that  eighty  percent,  of  its  in- 
mates have  gone  forth  regenerated. 

One  word  more,  and  I  have  done.     There  is  a 
decision  of  one  of  the  courts  of  this  State  that  a 


88  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

provision  in  the  constitution  of  Michigan  pre- 
vents a  judge  from  sentencing  a  criminal  for  an 
indefinite  length  of  time.  At  the  last  meeting 
of  the  Michigan  Political  Science  Association  a 
committee  was  appointed  (of  which  I  am  glad  to 
say  I  am  a  member)  to  petition  the  legislature  to 
go  to  work  to  secure  a  change  in  the  constitution 
and  laws  of  the  State,  so  that  the  courts  may 
sentence  criminals  for  an  indefinite  time.  I  ask 
you,  if  you  are  interested  in  the  prevention  of 
crime  and  the  reformation  of  criminals — that  is 
to  say,  if  you  are  alive  to  the  obligations  of 
your  citizenship — to  do  all  you  can  to  help  to 
secure  this  change;  to  endeavor  to  abolish  the 
old  methods  that  have  prevailed  in  our  prisons, 
that  make  them  schools,  not  of  virtue,  but  of 
iniquity! 


VI. 

"common  honesty." 

"  A  false  balance  is  abomination  to  the  Lord :  but  a  just  weight 
is  His  delight." — Prov.  xi.  1. 

Some  time  ago  the  late  Mr.  Froude,  the  Eng- 
lish historian,  brought  a  remarkable  indictment 
against  his  country,  of  which  the  following  is  the 
first  count :  "  From  the  great  house  in  the  City 
of  London  to  the  village  grocer,  the  commercial 
life  in  England  has  been  saturated  with  fraud. 
So  deep  has  it  gone  that  a  strictly  honest  trades- 
man can  hardly  hold  his  own  against  competi- 
tion. You  can  no  longer  trust  that  the  article 
that  you  buy  is  the  thing  which  it  pretends  to 
be.  We  have  false  weights,  false  measures, 
cheating  and  shoddy  everywhere." 

It  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Froude  overstates  his 
case  somewhat,  and  for  this  reason :  that  the  vast 
system  of  credit  by  which  business  is  carried  on 
to-day  could  not  be  maintained  a  year  unless 
there  was,  in  spite  of  the  cheating  and  defraud- 
ing that  goes  on,  an  underlying  sense  of  honesty 

89 


90  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

in  the  hearts  of  the  men  of  England ;  besides 
which,  we  know  that  Mr.  Froude  was  not  always 
accurate  in  statement ;  indeed,  that  he  was  some- 
times led  into  trouble  by  the  wealth  of  his  rhet- 
oric. Yet  there  is,  no  doubt,  good  ground  for 
saying  that  in  past  years,  since  competition  has 
become  so  keen  and  profits  so  small,  and  trusts 
and  combinations  have  sprung  into  existence, 
the  common  principle  of  common  honesty  has 
lost  much  of  its  hold  on  the  practices  of  men. 
The  old  Roman  maxim,  which  is  the  rule  of  the 
common  law,  caveat  emptor — "  The  buyer  must 
take  care" — is  applied  with  a  harshness  that 
was  never  intended,  and  which  is  against  sound 
morality  as  well  as  Christian  charity.  Under  it 
men  say  that  if  people  are  fools  enough  to  pay 
ten  prices  for  novelties  because  they  are  fashion- 
able, or  allow  themselves  to  be  deceived  by  the 
glitter  and  show  of  shoddy,  they  have  a  right  to 
fleece  them. 

And  besides  the  rivalry  of  producers  and  the 
mean  maxim  of  the  law,  there  has  come  into 
play  another  thing  that  leads  to  dishonesty,  not 
only  in  England,  but  in  the  United  States — yes, 
in  the  whole  world.  It  is  the  desire  to  get  rich 
very  fast,  either  for  the  brute  power  of  riches 


"COMMON  HONESTY."  91 

or  for  the  ability  to  live  luxuriously.  This  is 
the  curse  of  the  age — this  continual  seeking  for 
wealth;  this  custom  of  measuring  men's  worth 
only  by  the  sum  of  their  worldly  possessions; 
but 

"A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that." 

In  the  pride  of  birth  there  was  much  room  for 
high  and  exalted  feeling;  there  is  but  little  in 
the  pride  of  wealth.  Rank  to-day  is  indeed  "  the 
guinea's  stamp  " ;  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  man 
may  be  nothing. 

It  is  precisely  this  thing  that  causes  us  to 
wink  at  dishonest  methods  of  business  men, 
when  the  users  of  them  have  become  successful ; 
for,  though  we  may  condemn  the  offenses  of 
the  petty  tradesmen  in  usilig  false  weights  and 
measures,  we  condone  the  great  offenses  of  the 
big  merchants  who  take  by  legal,  yet  by  sharp, 
practices  all  the  profits  of  the  lesser  out  of  the 
trade  they  control.  Look  at  the  recent  transac- 
tions of  the  "  sugar  king "  of  the  Pacific,  for  in- 
stance. He  took  so  much  of  the  profits  that 
there  should  be  in  the  sale  of  sugar  that  the 
poor  distributers  were  often  compelled  to  sell 
that  merchandise  at  less  than  its  cost.  Thus 
we  can  scarcely  wonder  that  some  unscrupulous 


92  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

traders  gave  short  weight,  I  do  not  know  how 
it  is  now  with  the  Sugar  Trust  in  their  treatment 
of  the  retailers ;  but  as  to  their  treatment  of  the 
public,  and  especially  of  the  public  government, 
all  the  world  knows  it  is  corrupt.  It  has  been 
charged  that  the  Sugar  Trust  entered  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  and  bought  up  some  of  its 
members,  and  that  charge  has  never  been  dis- 
proved. I  am  told  that  this  trust  has  taken  more 
money  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  people  of  some 
of  the  States  in  the  West  than  the  combined  re- 
sults of  State  taxation  in  those  States. 

Men  should  be  satisfied  with  fair  returns  on 
the  amount  of  business  that  they  do ;  they  should 
fix  no  more  than  a  just  price  on  all  their  goods. 
I  tell  you,  my  friends,  that  just  prices  and  just 
wages,  simple  as  they  are,  will  revolutionize  all 
of  the  present  commercial  conditions  of  the 
world.  Men  should  not  only  live  themselves, 
but  they  should  let  others  live.  "Xe&ew  und 
lehen  lassen  "  should  be  the  rule  of  trade.  It  is 
the  intense  selfishness  of  the  grasping  and  pigeon- 
hearted  that  stands  in  the  way  of  honest  deal- 
ing. There  are  men  who  will  live,  and  live  well, 
no  matter  who  may  go  to  the  wall. 

It  is  curious  how  many  there  are  who  have  dis- 


"COMMON  HONESTY."  93 

honest  ways  of  doing  business,  yet  who  feel  that 
it  is  all  right,  that  "  business  is  business,"  and 
that  so  long  as  their  methods  are  not  forbidden 
by  a  strict  construction  of  the  law,  they  do  no 
wrong.  These  men  come  often  to  church,  give 
of  their  money  to  support  charitable  institutions, 
listen  to  the  commandment  "Thou  shalt  not 
steal"  with  self-complacency,  and  feel  that  they 
are  very  respectable  members  of  society.  In  the 
same  way  it  is  remarkable  how  many  so-called 
"  respectable  "  members  of  society  there  are  who 
lease  their  property,  or  permit  it  to  be  leased,  for 
evil  and  unhallowed  purposes.  There  is  many  a 
man  who  holds  himself  out  as  a  hater  of  vice — 
yea,  as  a  reformer  of  it — who  will  not  hesitate 
to  permit  his  agent  to  let  his  store  for  the  pur- 
poses of  a  low  saloon ;  yes,  who  will  not  hesitate 
to  permit  his  agent  to  lease  it  for  worse  purposes 
still.  These  men  are  the  whited  sepulchres  that 
our  Lord  spoke  of,  which  indeed  appear  beauti- 
ful without,  but  within  are  full  of  dead  men's 
bones.  I  have  often  thought,  if  the  men  who 
owned  saloon  property  •were  compelled  to  take 
out  the  licenses  for  saloons,  the  cause  of  temper- 
ance would  be  much  advanced.  And,  indeed,  I 
am  convinced  that  this  is  the  highroad  to  all  re- 


94  civic  CHRISTIANITY. 

form.  Property-owners  should  be  held  respon- 
sible for  every  use  to  which  their  property  is  put. 
When  it  is  put  to  an  unlawful  use  they  should 
be  brought  before  some  competent  court  to  show 
cause  why  they  should  not  be  fined.  And  only 
when  they  could  clear  their  skirts  of  all  guilt  of 
knowledge  should  they  be  permitted  to  go  free. 
In  every  case  where  a  license  has  been  granted 
to  be  used  on  any  property,  and  where  there  has 
been  an  unlawful  use,  it  should  be  irrevocably 
revoked  as  regards  that  property. 

And  so,  likewise,  it  is  remarkable  how  many 
men  there  are  who  prepare  articles  for  the  adul- 
teration of  other  articles  of  trade,  who  think  that 
they  are  not  blameworthy.  I  am  sure  I  do  not 
see  where  the  difference  is  between  the  procurer 
and  the  sinner.  The  tempter  is  always  as  bad 
as,  if  not  worse  than,  the  tempted  and  fallen.  I 
recollect  several  years  ago  talking  with  a  man 
who  had  dealt  largely  in  foreign  fruit  in  the 
market  of  one  of  our  cities.  He  said,  casually, 
"  How  the  ways  of  trade  have  changed !  Why, 
years  ago  we  used  to  throw  away  all  the  shells 
of  the  cocoanut ;  then  we  were  asked  to  sell  them 
whole,  and  now  we  have  our  own  mill  to  grind 
them."    "  Grind  cocoanut-shells ! "  I  said ;  "  and 


"COMMON  HONESTY.'*  95 

what  for?"  "Oh,  for  adulteration;  we  sell  the 
product  to  several  trades,  chiefly  to  the  pepper- 
dealers."  This  man  held  his  head  high,  and  was 
a  power  for  good  in  some  ways.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  he  excused  himself  with  the  plea  that  it 
was  necessary  for  him  to  sell  these  ground-up 
shells,  because  thereby  he  lessened  the  price  of 
the  cocoanut-meat ;  and  that,  if  he  did  not  sell 
his  shells,  his  competitors,  who  sold  theirs,  would 
undersell  him  in  the  price  of  it.  But  this  does 
not  alter  the  principle  of  the  case :  a  man,  after 
all,  does  not  have  to  get  rich — ^he  need  not  be  a 
millionaire — ^but  he  ought  to  be  an  honest  man. 
This  trader  became,  through  the  sale  of  the 
gi*ound-up  shells,  a  participant  in  the  fraud  of 
the  pepper-dealers ;  an  accessory,  before  the  fact, 
to  all  their  false  dealings. 

And  thus  it  is,  in  a  thousand  ways,  men  are 
deficient  in  the  every-day  virtue  of  common 
honesty;  and  those  who  profess  to  be  Chris- 
tians often  give  the  lie  to  their  profession.  Be- 
sides the  examples  of  dishonest  dealings  such  as 
I  have  mentioned,  which  men  have  permitted 
under  the  head  of  "  commercial  morality  "  (com- 
mercial immorality,  we  ought  to  call  it),  and 
which  so  many  of  the  citizens  of  the  world  wink 


96  ^  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

at,  there  are  many  others  that  all  agree  are  dis- 
honest, yet  which  are  so  constantly  practised 
by  men  who  ought  to  blush  to  think  how  low 
they  have  sunk  in  the  estimation  of  the  just  that 
we  have  all  lost  sight  of  their  iniquity.  Such 
admittedly  dishonest  ways  are  the  watering  of 
stocks,  the  freezing  out  of  minority  shareholders, 
the  making  of  blanket-mortgages  and  fraudulent 
assignments,  the  wrecking  of  banks  and  rail- 
roads, and  the  like.  These  things  are  so  com- 
mon in  the  business  world  that  though  men  ad- 
mit they  are  dishonest,  yet  do  they  simply  shrug 
their  shoulders  at  them — especially  when  these 
ways  have  gotten  wealth  for  those  who  have 
practised  them.  For  my  own  part,  I  say  frankly 
that  no  company  ought  to  be  permitted  by  the 
law  to  capitalize  its  stock  for  more  than  its  actual 
assets,  fixed  and  determined  by  some  competent 
court ;  that  the  issuing  of  stock  for  nothing — for 
a  patent,  perhaps,  that  has  no  intrinsic  value — 
should  be  regarded  as  a  crime,  when  the  issuers 
of  that  stock  "have  taken  the  public  in."  As 
regards  the  freezing  out  of  minorities  by  major- 
ities, and  the  stockholders  by  the  bondholders, 
how  can  men  who  say  "  Our  Father "  be  guilty 
of  such  things !     Who  will  tell  of  the  vast  sums 


"COMMON  HONESTY."  97 

of  money  that  the  English  investors  have  lost 
through  the  fraudulent  management  of  the  rail- 
ways in  the  United  States  alone!  As  regards 
the  making  of  blanket-mortgages  and  false  as- 
signments, it  is  not  necessary  to  speak;  frauds 
of  this  kind,  when  they  are  given  out  to  the 
world,  are  apparent  to  all.  As  regards  the 
wrecking  of  banks  and  railroads,  the  men  who 
are  guilty  of  these  things  should  be  held  to  be 
public  enemies,  and  treated,  as  such,  to  long 
terms  in  the  States'  prisons.  They  should  be 
forever  deprived  of  citizenship. 

There  are  two  phases  of  commercial  life  upon 
which  I  desire  to  dwell  especially,  because  they 
are  general  in  effect,  and  cast  a  shadow  upon  all 
trade :  they  are  incendiary  fires  and  insolvency. 
I  am  told  by  men  engaged  in  the  business  of  fire- 
insurance — especially  in  the  part  of  it  called  ad- 
justing— that  the  uninitiated  have  no  idea  of 
the  extent  of  the  frauds  perpetrated  by  men  set- 
ting fire  to  their  own  premises.  So  far  has  this 
species  of  fraud  extended  that  it  has  been  pro- 
posed that  there  should  be  fire  coroners,  who 
will  inquire  into  the  origin  of  fires,  as  cases  of 
manslaughter  are  inquired  into.  Fire  is  an  easy 
method  to  get  rid  of  old  stock ;  it  is  an  easy  way 


9g  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

to  get  money  for  goods  that  were  never  had  in 
possession.  Why,  it  is  astonishing  to  hear  how 
many  people  will  talk  of  "  a  convenient  fire."  I 
have  heard  men  say  again  and  again,  "Well, 
what  this  building  wants  is  a  good  fire."  Some- 
thing must  be  done  to  stamp  out  both  this  thing 
and  the  sentiment  of  this  thing. 

Of  insolvency,  it  is  said  by  good  authority 
that  ninety  percent,  of- all  business  men  fail  at 
least  once  in  their  lives.  Of  these  there  are  many 
cases  which  are  the  results  of  misfortune  simply, 
such  as  these  recent  hard  times ;  but  the  major- 
ity are  the  outcome  of  gross  mismanagement,  if 
not  of  fraud.  How  few  there  are  who  venture 
out  upon  the  seas  of  commerce  who  are  mentally 
and  morally  equipped  for  the  dangers  thereof! 
How  few  there  are  who  understand  what  debit 
and  credit  mean ;  who  understand  that  no  busi- 
ness can  be  carried  on,  under  the  present  condi- 
tions of  trade,  without  credits,  and  credits  mean 
corresponding  debits !  They  take  little  heed  of 
the  fact  that  it  is  dishonest  to  make  a  debt 
unless  there  is  a  credit  (or,  it  may  be,  stock  in 
trade)  to  back  it,  and  so  they  speedily  run  into 
financial  straits  and  bankruptcy.  It  is  said  by 
Blackstone  that  "bankruptcy  laws  are  considered 


"COMMON  HONESTY."  99 

as  laws  calculated  for  the  benefit  of  trade,  and  are 
founded  on  principles  of  humanity  as  well  as 
justice."  "  But  they  are  cautious  of  encourag- 
ing prodigality  and  extravagance,  and  therefore 
they  allow  the  benefit  of  the  laws  to  none  but 
actual  traders,  since  that  set  of  men  are,  gener- 
ally speaking,  the  only  persons  liable  to  acci- 
dental losses  and  to  an  inability  of  paying  their 
debts  without  fault  of  their  own."  And  he 
adds:  "It  is  to  the  misfortunes,  therefore,  of  the 
debtors  that  the  law  has  given  a  compassionate 
remedy,  but  denied  it  to  their  faults."  And  so  it 
ought  to  be ;  there  is  no  bankruptcy  law  except 
the  old  bankruptcy  law  of  the  United  States 
which  allows  or  allowed  all  sorts  of  men — traders, 
physicians,  lawyers,  clergymen,  and  the  rest — to 
take  advantage  of  its  provisions.  This  old  law, 
in  my  opinion,  encouraged  speculation.  The 
principle  upon  which  the  debtor  is  bound  to 
conduct  himself  toward  his  creditors  is  pru- 
dence; and  if  he  has  been  prudent,  if  disaster 
comes,  then,  and  then  only,  should  the  trader 
have  the  benefit  of  the  law  for  bankrupts. 

The  rules  of  prudence  which  are,  I  think,  de- 
serving of  attention  in  this  connection  are 
three ;  and  they  are :  First,  fitness  for  the  busi- 


100  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

ness  undertaken.  The  first  duty  of  a  man  of 
business  is  to  assure  liimseK  that  he  has  capa- 
city and  skill  to  manage  the  business  in  which 
he  is  about  to  engage.  How  many  failures  are 
traceable  to  personal  unfitness !  We  cannot  tell 
of  them  any  more  than  the  sands  by  the  seaside 
can  tell  of  the  wrecks  that  have  been  thrown 
up  on  them.  Secondly :  the  second  rule  of  pru- 
dence is  the  reduction-  of  trade  to  a  minimum  of 
speculation.  There  are  few  business  men  who 
will  admit  the  soundness  of  this  rule,  and  yet 
they  often  adopt  it  as  a  principle  of  copartner- 
ship, when  they  stipulate  that  neither  partner 
shall  "  dabble  in  stocks."  The  principle,  too,  is 
well  recognized  in  the  laws  of  bankruptcy;  in 
our  late  national  act  there  was  a  provision  that 
if  a  debtor  lost  any  part  of  his  property  in  gam- 
bling he  forfeited  his  right  to  a  discharge.  But 
business  men  will  say  that  while  outside  the 
limits  of  their  especial  business  gambling  may 
be  wrong,  yet  inside  those  limits  a  certain  de- 
gree of  speculation  is  inevitable.  And  so  it  is ; 
but  this  very  distinction  contains  an  admission 
that  the  speculations  ought,  in  good  morals,  to 
be  confined  to  the  limits  of  necessity.  Third: 
the  third  rule  of  prudence  which  it  is  incum- 


"COMMON  HONESTY."  101 

bent  upon  men  to  observe  is  that  of  careful  liv- 
ing. No  man  has  a  right  to  take  so  much  of  the 
assets  out  of  his  business  for  his  living  that  he 
thereby  jeopardizes  the  payment  of  the  debts  he 
owes.  The  obligation  of  the  observance  of  sim- 
plicity of  living  arises  from  the  fact  that  a  man, 
by  contracting  debts,  takes  upon  himself  the 
probability  of  insolvency. 

I  cannot  say  that  the  non-observance  of  the 
first  rule  of  prudence — that  of  not  appreciating 
one's  unfitness  for  any  especial  business — is  dis- 
honest, but  surely  the  non-observance  of  the 
second  rule — that  of  the  avoidance  of  too  much 
speculation — often  becomes  so;  and  the  non- 
observance  of  the  third  rule — that  of  the  obliga- 
tion of  simplicity  in  living — is  always  dishonest. 
The  man  who  lives  in  luxury  and  extravagance 
off  the  credits  that  others  have  made  to  him  on 
the  understanding  that  he  will  conduct  his  busi- 
ness with  care,  is  wanting  in  the  principle  of 
common  honesty.  Too  many  men  are  so  want- 
ing. Ask  your  bankers,  ask  your  credit  agents, 
whether  it  is  not  so. 

But  Mr.  Froude  has  another  count  in  his  in- 
dictment that  I  want  to  bring  to  your  notice. 
He  says:  "Many  hundreds  of  sermons  have  I 


102  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY, 

heard  in  England — many  a  dissertation  on  the 
mysteries  of  the  faith,  on  the  divine  mission  of 
the  clergy,  etc.,  etc. ;  but  during  all  these  years, 
never  one  sermon  that  I  can  recollect  on  com- 
mon honesty."  The  answer  is,  of  course,  that, 
as  we  speak  of  the  air  we  breathe  as  a  thing  well 
understood,  and  but  rarely  analyze  it,  so  we 
speak  of  the  eighth  commandment  and  seldom 
apply  it  in  detail.  There  are  some  principles  of 
conduct  so  well  understood  that  we  scarcely  do 
more  than  speak  of  them.  It  is  patent  to  all — 
conscience,  like  the  voice  of  God  from  the  Mount 
of  Sinai,  speaks  ever,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal." 
Men  know  that  though,  through  the  errors  of 
thought,  they  may  worship  false  divinities  or  no 
divinities  at  all ;  they  know  that  though,  through 
the  passions  of  the  senses,  they  may  be  guilty 
of  lust  and  debauchery,  yet  that  for  theft — for 
downright  theft — they  have  no  excuse.  And  it 
is  for  this  reason  that  a  thief  bears  about  him, 
wherever  he  goes,  a  weight  of  opprobrium  that 
time  does  not  lessen. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  the  Church  to  preach 
"common  honesty";  that  has  a  sanction  in 
human  nature  apart  from  her  teachings.  You 
know  it  has,  and  that  you  yourselves  ought  to 


"COMMON  HONESTY."  103 

practise  it  by  word  and  by  deed.  The  Church 
teaches  that  way  of  living  which  will  make  men 
just  and  fair  in  all  their  dealings,  and  then  lets 
their  sense  of  justice  and  fairness  do  the  work 
for  the  redemption  of  commercial  dealings.  And 
this  she  has  always  done  when  she  has  preached 
the  God  and  Man  Jesus  Christ,  "the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life."  There  is  in  the  person  of 
Christ  an  unchangeable,  universal  standard  of 
morality,  whether  applied  in  society,  in  trade,  in 
government,  or  in  social  relations.  In  the  per- 
son of  Jesus  Christ,  I  say,  the  world  of  trade  has 
a  standard  by  which  all  dealings  can  be  weighed 
and  measured.  It  is  because  men  have  fixed 
their  eyes  on  expediency  and  utility  on  the  one 
hand,  and  on  wealth  and  success  on  the  other, 
that  they  have  turned  away  from  the  teachings 
of  our  Lord. 

The  whole  trouble  may  be  stated  in  these 
words :  that  trade,  in  its  desire  for  wealth  and 
success,  has  become  untrue  to  the  law — both  to 
the  statute  law  and  to  the  law  of  conscience.  It 
has  repudiated  the  Christ !  Men  have  wilfully, 
knowingly,  divided  their  lives  into  two  parts,  the 
secular  and  the  religious;  and  they  have  shut 
out  religion  from  the  part  that  they  call  secular. 


104  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

"When  they  shall  have  admitted  religion  into 
their  whole  lives,  and  given  it  full  scope  every- 
way, then  trade  will  be  elevated  to  the  high 
place  it  ought  to  occupy  in  the  estimation  of 
men;  for  trade — commerce — is  the  thing  that 
makes  the  lives  of  all  men,  so  far  as  this  world 
goes,  to  be  worth  the  living.  I  see — I  am  sure  I 
see — light  ahead.  A  public  opinion  is  in  process 
of  formation  that  will  have  all  business  to  be 
based  upon  sound  economics  and  just  morality. 
It  is  true  that  the  adulteration  of  merchandise 
has  not,  as  yet,  in  all  cases  been  declared  to  be 
immoral;  yet  there  is  a  tendency  in  legislation 
to  force  manufacturers  to  brand  their  goods, 
and  to  say  exactly  what  they  are.  There  is  a 
tendency,  too,  in  legislation  to  rectify  the  abuses- 
of  corporations,  and  to  make  them  to  live  as 
honest  creatures  in  an  honest  State.  As  for  the 
abolition  of  the  rule  of  caveat  emptor^  as  men 
shall  see  that  they  are  brothers  they  will  cease 
to  throw  all  the  responsibility  of  the  bargain 
upon  the  buyer,  who  does  not  know  the  goods, 
and  will  assume  that  responsibility  themselves. 
As  for  incendiary  fires,  something  will  be  done 
to  correct  them  by  the  insurance  companies,  and 
by  those  who  have  to  pay  larger  premiums  than 


"COMMON  HONESTY."  Ig5 

they  otherwise  would,  iu  order  to  enable  the  com- 
panies to  pay  fraudulent  losses. 

The  great  danger,  as  I  see  it,  is  the  danger 
from  overspeculation,  and  from  the  desire  for 
luxurious  and  extravagant  Hviug  at  any  cost  to 
anybody.  I  would  not  have  the  Church  to  ap- 
point committees,  as  do  the  Quakers,  to  visit  its 
members,  and  to  examine  and  see  that  they 
are  not  speculating  too  much  and  living  beyond 
their  means;  yet  I  think  that  the  whole  con- 
servative force  of  the  Church  and  society  should 
be'  brought  to  bear  upon  the  men  who  recklessly 
risk  the  property  of  others  in  speculation ;  who 
recklessly  eat  up  the  assets  which  they  ought  to 
keep  intact  to  meet  the  debts  that  they  have 
contracted.  Will  you  not  do  your  parts  in  try- 
ing to  bring  about  a  better  state  of  affairs  in  the 
trade  of  the  land!  It  is  a  result  that  you  are 
interested  in,  whether  you  be  rich  or  poor;  be- 
cause trade  is  the  great  factor  by  which  civiliza- 
tion can  be  promoted  at  home,  and  its  borders 
enlarged  abroad,  and  the  life  of  the  nation  pre- 
served and  transmitted  with  vigorous  power  to 
the  oncoming  generations  of  men. 


VII. 

THE  SIN  OF  GOSSIP. 

"  The  tongue  is  a  fire,  a  world  of  iniquity :  so  is  the  tongue 
among  our  members,  that  it  defileth  the  whole  body,  and  setteth 
on  fire  the  course  of  nature ;  and  it  is  set  on  fire  of  hell." — James 
iii.  6. 

The  ways  of  the  world  are  curious  indeed! 
We  purchase  tickets  and  go  to  the  theatre  and 
hear  some  great  actors  present  "  The  School  for 
Scandal";  we  laugh  and  applaud  all  the  hits 
that  are  made  against  envy,  hatred,  and  malice ; 
we  are  glad  to  see  Sir  Benjamin  Backbite  and 
his  set  discomfited,  and  innocence  triumph;  we 
flatter  ourselves  that  we  are  not  as  these  patched 
and  powdered  and  furbelowed  men  and  women 
of  the  Georgian  period ;  yet  I  have  not  the  slight- 
est doubt  that  if  the  audience  could  change  places 
with  the  players,  and  tell  the  story  of  the  in- 
trigues and  scandals  that  are  going  about  among 
their  respective  sets,  just  as  amusing  a  play  as 
that  of  Sheridan's  would  be  presented,  and  one 
infinitely  more  disheartening. 

106 


THE  SIN  OF  GOSSIP.  107 

I  suppose  that  it  has  always  been  so.  When 
good  St.  James  of  Jerusalem  tells  us  that  "  the 
tongue  is  a  fire,  a  world  of  iniquity :  that  it  de- 
fileth  the  whole  body,  and  setteth  on  fire  the 
course  of  nature,"  he  could  not  have  arraigned 
it  more  thoroughly.  And  the  same  kind  of  in- 
dictment we  find  in  all  the  ancient  writings.  It 
is  in  the  third  division  of  the  Inferno  that  Dante 
has  placed  the  fraudulent — both  those  who  make 
and  those  who  act  a  lie.  Evil-speaking  is  a  vice 
which  seems  to  accompany  civilization.  It  has 
been  said  that  "  half  the  world  takes  pleasure  in 
inventing  scandal,  and  the  other  half  in  believing 
it."  It  is  the  savage  only  that  is  exempt  from 
this  great  sin.  The  North  American  Indian  has 
a  contempt  for  evil-speaking  that  we  would  do 
well  to  imitate. 

Now,  let  me  observe  at  the  outset  that  though 
we  lay  much  blame  upon  the  tongue  for  the  harm 
it  does,  that  blame  should  not  be  laid  so  much 
upon  this  most  useful  member  of  the  body,  for 
the  tongue  only  gives  expression  to  the  thoughts 
of  the  man  within.  It  is  with  the  tongue  that 
we  praise  Grod,  and  with  it  that  we  speak  evil  of 
men.  The  wise  old  king  has  said,  "Keep  thy 
heart  with  all  dihgence ;  for  out  of  it  are  the  is- 


108  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

sues  of  life ;"  and  our  Lord  has  said,  "  Out  of  the 
heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adulteries, 
fornications,  thefts,  false  witness,  blasphemies." 
The  heart,  I  take  it,  means,  in  these  two  texts,  the 
actual  temper  and  disposition  of  the  man.  As 
the  man's  temper  and  disposition  are,  so  is  the 
man  himself;  and  he  can  always  be  judged  by 
his  expressions  of  word  and  deed. 

Pursuing  the  subject  a  little  further,  let  me 
point  out  to  you  that  though  man's  first  sin  was 
disobedience — that  is,  a  departing  from  the  divine 
command — the  first  appearance  of  evil  was  the 
utterance  of  a  lie ;  and  it  was  a  lie  by  insinua- 
tion. "  Yea,"  said  the  serpent,  "  hath  God  said, 
Ye  shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden  ? " 
"Why,  surely  it  cannot  be;  He  cannot  be  so 
mean,"  is  the  inference.  The  woman's  answer 
was  straight  enough;  and  then  came  the  lie 
direct:  "Ye  shall  not  surely  die" — God  knows 
better ;  and  the  woman  was  persuaded ;  and  by  a 
lie  sin  and  death  came  into  the  world.  And  so 
it  was  that  our  Lord  said,  speaking  of  the  devil, 
"that  old  serpent,  which  deceiveth  the  whole 
world ; "  that  "  he  was  a  murderer  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  abode  not  in  the  truth,  because  there 
is  no  truth  in  him.  When  he  speaketh  a  lie,  he 
speaketh  of  his  own:  for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the 


THE  SIN  OP  GOSSIP.  109 

father  of  it."  The  devil  abode  not  in  truth ;  it 
was  not  the  thing  he  was ;  he  did  not  think  it, 
speak  it,  live  it,  and  so  he  became  a  liar,  and  the 
creator  of  a  lie.  A  lie  is  essentially  at  the  bottom 
of  all  evil,  as  evil  is  a  departure  from  the  truth 
in  thought  and  word  and  deed.  Per  contra 
truth  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  goodness.  Jesus 
said,  "  For  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that 
I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth."  It  is  a 
tremendous  saying,  told  on  the  eve  of  His  cru- 
cifixion. We  must  believe  that  it  sums  up  His 
work — that  is,  that  His  work  was  to  make  the 
truth  known.  Again,  He  said,  "  I  am  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life."  Now,  " the  way"  is,  we 
can  see,  really  what  He  is  in  time ;  "  the  life  "  is 
what  He  is  to  those  who  accept  Him  in  time ; 
and  "  the  truth  "  is  what  He  is  essentially.  And 
so  it  has  come  about  that  truth  is  the  great  ob- 
ject of  the  search  of  all  high  souls — truth,  the 
eternal  basis  of  reason  and  emotion,  as  the  same 
is  perceived  by  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men. 
And  so,  too,  it  has  come  about  that  men  know 
that  it  is  only  those  who  are  truthful  who  are  to 
be  revered ;  it  is  only  they  who  can  be  followed. 

"  Thou  must  be  true  thyself, 

If  thou  the  truth  wouldst  teach ; 
Thy  soul  must  overflow,  if  thou 
Another's  soul  wouldst  reach." 


110  CIVIC  CHEISTIANITY. 

The  advice  of  Polonius  to  his  son  is  the  epit- 
ome of  wisdom.  If  truth,  then,  is  so  much  to 
be  valued,  how  base  is  a  lie ;  how  mean,  how 
contemptible  are  those  who  follow  it — who 
speak,  who  act  falsely ! 

Now  I  do  not  intend  to  study  with  you  the 
untruthfulness  of  men  in  all  the  affairs  of  life — 
in  their  family  relations,  in  their  business  deal- 
ings ;  such  a  study  would  take  me  too  far  afield. 
I  desire  to  bring  before  you  simply  the  evil  of 
speaking  untruthfully ;  the  dreadful  sin  of  gossip 
and  slander.  It  is  everywhere  conceded  that 
speech  is  the  great  distinguishing  mark  of  the 
superiority  of  the  human  race;  yet,  when  we 
reflect  how  much  of  spite  and  malice  and  un- 
charitableness  speech  gives  utterance  to,  we  can- 
not help  but  blush  for  the  use  that  men  make  of 
this  great  gift.  Go  into  any  gathering  of  men 
and  women — no  matter  where — and  what  do  you 
for  the  most  part  hear?  Little  stories  about 
other  men  and  women.  And  what  do  these 
stories  consist  of?  Let  us  be  candid.  They 
consist  for  the  most  part  of  categories  of, the 
shortcomings,  or  of  the  supposed  shortcomings, 
of  men  and  women.  Such  utterances  as  these 
are  everywhere  heard :  "  Poor  Mrs.  So-and-so ! 


THE  SIN  OF  GOSSIP.  HI 

her  husband  has  gone  off  to  New  York  to  amuse 
himself,  and  she  so  ill  at  home !  "  How  does  the 
world  know  but  that  "  poor  Mrs.  So-and-so  "  sent 
her  husband  to  New  York  because-  his  presence 
in  the  city  was  required  by  family  affairs?  Or 
some  one  will  say :  "  Poor  Mr.  So-and-so !  I  do 
so  sympathize  with  him ;  it  is  too  bad  his  wife 
spends  so  much  on  her  gowns !  "  How  does  so- 
ciety know  what  funds  her  parents  supply  her 
with?  But  these  are  mild  specimens  of  the 
things  that  gossips  say  and  repeat.  To  para- 
phrase the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "It  is  a  shame 
even  to  speak  of  those  things  which  they  say 
are  done  of  men  in  secret."  Nor  is  it  only  the 
shortcomings,  actual  and  imaginary,  of  friends 
and  neighbors  that  are  discussed — the  things  for 
which  there  may  be  some  probable  foundation ; 
but  untruthful  things  are  said  about  men  and 
women  for  which  there  is  no  gi'oundwork — 
things  which,  as  we  say,  "  are  made  out  of  whole 
cloth." 

In  regard  to  the  first  class  of  story-tellers,  one 
would  say  to  the  gossips  and  scandal-mongers, 
"Judge  not  after  appearance,  but  judge  right- 
eous judgment ;"  or,  better,  "  Judge  not,  that  ye 
be  not  judged."    It  is  a  dreadful  thing  to  under- 


112  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

take  to  decide  as  to  the  conduct  of  our  neighbors 
when  we  know  so  little  of  the  reasons  that  have 
led  them  to  take  such  or  such  a  line  of  action. 
In  regard  to  the  second  class  of  detractors  and 
calumniators,  one  would  say,  "Beware  lest  ye 
come  into  the  condemnation  of  Satan,  when  ye 
come  before  Him  who  has  said  to  some  of  the 
race  of  mankind,  'Ye  are  of  your  father  the 
devil.'" 

Now  the  first  class  of  evil-speaking  people  of 
whom  I  have  spoken  are  actuated  for  the  most 
part  by  no  motive  at  all.  They  are  mere  tattlers ; 
empty-headed,  shallow-pated  men  and  women, 
who  gossip  and  retail  slander  to  make  themselves 
acceptable  to  people  of  their  kind ;  who  want  to 
be  considered  interesting.  These  do  not  really 
intend  to  injure  the  people  they  asperse ;  and 
yet  they  do  injure  them.  They  injure  them, 
sometimes,  in  the  very  worst  way,  for  it  is  in  a 
way  from  which  they  cannot,  as  a  rule,  be  de- 
fended. There  is  an  appearance  of  shortcoming, 
a  basis  for  the  slander ;  and  as  the  people  slan- 
dered know  nothing  about  the  story — or,  if  they 
do,  cannot  rush  about  and  justify  themselves  to 
every  man — the  slander  gains  ground,  and  usurps 
the  place  of  truth. 


THE  SIN  OF  GOSSIP.  113 

The  second  class  of  detractors  and  calumni- 
ators are  undoubtedly  actuated  by  despicable 
motives.  They  are  gangrened  by  envy  and  hate. 
It  is  a  pity  to  have  to  confess  it.  There  are 
some  men  who  cannot  bear  to  hear  their  neigh- 
bors praised,  so  they  set  themselves  to  work  to 
invent  some  story  that  will  lower  their  heads. 
These  are  the  people  of  whom  David  wrote  when 
he  said,  "Adders'  poison  is  under  their  lips." 
Every  word  they  utter  injures,  and  is  intended 
to  do  so.  Let  me  say  that  I  do  not  think  that 
this  second  class  is  so  large  as  the  first  class  of 
heedless,  thoughtless  slanderers ;  nor  do  I  think 
that  their  evil-speaking  is  as  dangerous  as  that 
of  the  first  class.  An  absolute  untruth  is  apt  to 
be  discovered,  and  the  violence  of  an  attack  of 
envy  and  hate  generally  defeats  itself.  It  is 
when  there  is  an  appearance  of  shortcoming, 
and  the  people  who  animadvert  upon  it  are  not 
considered  to  be  envious,  that  the  world  stops 
and  gives  ear.  The  world,  bad  as  it  is,  repudi- 
ates the  spite  and  envy  of  the  devilish;  but  it 
gives,  oh,  such  a  willing  ear  to  those  who  simply 
tell  of  the  foibles  of  men. 

But  besides  these  two  classes  of  people,  there 
is  another  that  indulges  in  evil-speaking.    It  is 


114  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

those  who  simply  repeat  what  they  have  heard, 
who  take  up  a  story,  as  it  were,  at  second  hand. 
These  are  the  drums  and  cymbals  of  the  gossip- 
ing band.  They  are  just  as  bad  as  those  who 
first  begin  the  slander,  without  having  their  wit 
and  quick  perception.  But  upon  these  poor 
chattering  magpies  I  will  not  dwell. 

This  evil-speaking  is  one  of  the  most  dreadful 
of  all  sins.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  so  because 
it  disseminates  lies  and  supports  the  tottering 
strength  of  the  kingdom  of  Satan.  You  must 
remember  that  the  Greek  word  SiapoXo?  meant  first 
slanderer,  then  devil.  In  the  second  place,  it  is 
so  because  it  injures  a  man  in  the  most  vital 
way.    You  all  know  the  lines : 

"Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash — 'tis  something,  nothing; 
'Twas  mine,  'tis  his,  and  has  been  slave  to  thousands ; 
But  he  that  filches  from  me  my  good  name 
Robs  me  of  that  which  not  enriches  him, 
And  makes  me  poor  indeed." 

You  must  remember,  as  I  have  often  pointed 
out  to  you,  that  character — the  attainment  of 
character — is  the  end  of  all  human  endeavor ;  and 
in  this  both  religion  and  philosophy  agree.  The 
slandering  of  men  pulls  down  and  destroys  that 
thing  which  is  most  precious  to  them.  You 
may  say  that  it  really  does  not  destroy  char- 


THE  SIN  OP  GOSSIP.  115 

acter,  but  only  the  estimation  of  it  in  the  eyes 
of  others.  It  is  true,  primarily,  evil-speaking 
does  only  hurt  the  estimation  of  character — and 
this  is  bad  enough ;  but  too  often  its  secondary 
effect  is  to  lower  the  whole  tone  of  the  person 
injured,  and  to  make  him  to  be  reckless  of  his 
acts ;  too  often  does  the  destruction  of  the  esti- 
mation of  character  lead  to  the  destruction  of 
character  itself.  There  are  few  men  so  strong 
who,  when  their  friends  fall  off,  and  they  know 
their  characters  are  injured,  have  the  strength 
to  stand  against  the  world.  Besides,  the  esti- 
mation of  a  good  man's  character  is  his  greatest 
worldly  possession.  It  is  the  thing  that  secures 
him  entrance  into  society.  It  is  the  thing  upon 
which  his  success  in  business  and  in  the  profes- 
sions is  based.  It  is  that  which  gives  him  the 
gi'eatest  sense  of  happiness  in  his  intercourse 
with  his  kind. 

Now  you  may  ask  me.  Why  have  you  brought 
this  matter  of  evil-speaking  before  us  for  our 
consideration  to-day  I  For  this  reason:  that, 
as  I  have  been  told  repeatedly,  plague  spots  of 
gossip  and  scandal  have  broken  out  on  the  fair 
face  of  the  city  of  Detroit.  For  some  two  years 
after   I   came   here  I  heard  nothing  of  such 


116  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

things;  but  one  cannot  have  lived  in  this  town 
for  three  or  four  years  and  not  have  heard  the 
most  dreadful  stories  relating  to  "  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men."  I  may  say,  and  you  may 
say,  "  I  do  not  believe  one  half  of  what  I  hear, 
and  upon  this  I  take  my  stand ;"  but  this  stand 
is  not  sufficient.  It  is  high  time  that  you  and  I 
put  our  feet  resolutely  upon  the  story-tellers 
and  said,  "  Avaunt,  and  quit  my  sight !  " 

And  let  me  say  to  the  people  of  Detroit  that 
if  you  do  not  resolutely  stamp  out  the  scandals 
that  run  like  wild-fire  through  the  homes  of 
your  city,  and  choke  off  the  scandal-mongers, 
you  will  suffer  the  fair  name  of  the  community 
to  be  injured  in  a  way  that  will  cast  reflection 
upon  all.  I  speak  of  what  I  know.  It  is  dread- 
ful to  hear  the  world  at  large  speak  of  the  evil- 
speaking  that  is  current  in  Detroit.  Besides,  if 
you  do  not  stamp  out  these  scandals,  you  will 
by  no  means  escape  from  accusation  yourselves. 
When  so  much  is  said,  and  so  much  believed,  of 
others,  something  evil  may  easily  be  said  that 
will  be  believed  of  you.  I  tell  you  that  gossip 
and  slander  are  like  witchcraft — they  will  attack 
even  those  who  are  highest  and  noblest  in  a 
community.     But  you  may  say,  "I  am  sure 


THE  SIN  OF  GOSSIP.  117 

that  some  of  these  stories  are  true."  Well,  if 
they  are,  it  is  no  reason  why  you,  and  such  as 
you,  should  talk  about  them.  You  only  make 
matters  worse.  But  I  hope  to  God  that  they 
are  not  true !  If  they  are,  may  the  people  con- 
cerned blush  for  shame  to  think  of  the  evil  they 
have  brought  upon  this  community,  as  well  as 
upon  themselves,  and  be  led  to  see  what  is  right 
and  endeavor  to  do  it.  But  how  are  we  to  put 
this  pestilence  of  evil-speaking  down?  Well,  it 
is  not  so  easy. 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  cultivate  the  qual- 
ity of  magnanimity,  of  big-mindedness — the 
habit  of  seeing  things  from  a  wide  and  not  from 
a  narrow  point  of  view.  And  there  is  only  one 
way  of  becoming  magnanimous,  and  that  is  to 
get  the  love  of  men  in  our  hearts  and  the  desire 
to  do  them  good ;  and  "  love  is  ever  long-suffer- 
ing and  kind;  love  envieth  not,  is  not  easily 
provoked;  it  thinketh  no  evil;  it  rejoiceth  not 
in  iniquity,  but  in  the  truth." 

In  the  second  place,  we  must  acquire  a  liberal 
education;  we  must  become  cultured — that  is, 
we  must  have  our  minds  full  of  the  true,  the 
good,  and  the  beautiful  thoughts  and  actions  of 
men,  and  our  hearts  full  of  love  toward  every 


118  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY, 

living  soul.  We  will  then  be  able  to  converse 
without  talking  about  our  neighbors.  Ah,  my 
friends,  conversation  is  the  gi'eatest  of  all  the 
arts  of  the  world;  it  is  so  strange  that  it  is  so 
much  neglected !  And  it  is  the  thing  that  gives 
us  the  greatest  pleasure ;  for  all  that  we  see  and 
read  and  experience,  we  see  and  read  and  ex- 
perience so  that  we  may  be  able  to  tell  our 
friends  thereof.  The  point  is  to  be  able  to  do 
this  without  entering  into  personalities,  either 
of  others  or  of  our  own  selves.  And  with  this 
point  we  should  associate  another:  the  ability 
to  enter  into  the  talk  of  our  friends ;  into  what 
they  have  seen  and  read  and  experienced — the 
ability,  in  other  words,  to  listen.  If  we  will 
keep  these  two  points  in  mind — that  conversa- 
tion is  for  the  relating  of  things  and  for  the 
hearing  of  things  that  we  and  others  have  seen 
and  read  and  experienced,  and  not  for  the  re- 
lating and  hearing  of  matters  concerning  our 
neighbors'  actions — we  will  be  a  long  way  on 
the  road  to  become  good  conversationalists  and 
to  avoid  evil-speaking.  And  yet  let  me  observe 
that  if  conversation  is  considered  to  be  merely 
an  art,  we  will  not  arrive  at  any  attainment  of 
it.    Art,  when  sought  for  art's  sake,  becomes 


THE  SIN  OF  GOSSIP.  119 

mannerism,  stiff  and  formal.  "We  should  aim 
simply  to  please  and  to  be  pleased  in  the  ways  I 
have  indicated ;  and  if  our  hearts  are  clean,  and 
we  have  a  largeness  of  spirit,  we  will  succeed 
without  the  aid  of  scandal. 

And  thus  the  tongue  will  be  tamed.  The, 
tongue  will  never  be  tamed  by  order  nor  by  any 
set  of  rules ;  it  will  be  tamed  only  by  the  truth- 
ful heart  that  is  kind;  for  "out  of  the  abun- 
dance of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh."  And 
thus  it  is  that  each  time  the  tongue  utters  some 
low,  mean,  untruthful  thing,  it  reveals  the  man 
within ;  and  so  we  see,  even  as  St.  James  has 
said,  that  it  not  only  "  setteth  on  fire  the  course 
of  nature,"  but  it  "  defileth  the  whole  body "  of 
him  who  utters  the  lie.  And  this  is  the  con- 
demnation of  the  slanderers:  they  are  polluted 
by  their  own  inventions ;  they  become  the  asso- 
ciates of  "sorcerers,  and  whoremongers,  and  mur- 
derers, and  idolaters,"  of  those  who  are  shut 
without  the  gates  of  the  Holy  City  of  God. 


VIII. 

GOOD  CITIZENSHIP. 

"And  as  they  bound  him  with  thongs,  Paul  said  unto  the 
centurion  that  stood  by,  Is  it  lawful  for  you  to  scourge  a  man 
that  is  a  Roman,  and  uncondemned  ?  When  the  centurion  heard 
that,  he  went  and  told  the  chief  captain,  saying,  Take  heed  what 
thou  doest ;  for  this  man  is  a  Eoman.  Then  the  chief  captain 
came,  and  said  unto  him,  Tell  me,  art  thou  a  Roman?  He  said, 
Yea.  And  the  chief  captain  answered,  With  a  great  sum  obtained 
I  this  freedom.  And  Paul  said,  But  I  was  free  born." — Acts 
xxii.  25-28. 

Herein,  in  this  drama  enacted  at  Jerusalem, 
in  a  city  hateful  to  Rome,  by  a  man  who  had 
already  proclaimed  himself  to  be  a  Jew  of 
Tarsus,  a  city  of  Cilicia,  we  see  the  wonderful 
power  of  the  greatest  talisman  the  world  has 
ever  known,  civis  Romanus  sum  —  "I  am  a 
Roman  citizen."  I  do  not  care  to  enter  upon 
the  inquiry  how  it  was  that  Saul  of  Tarsus 
acquired  this  great  thing,  the  right  of  Roman 
citizenship.  We  know  that  the  rights  and  pow- 
ers of  that  citizenship  were  gradually  extended 
by  the  Eternal  City,  first  to  the  states  of  Italy, 
and  then  afterward  to  other  districts  through- 

120 


GOOD  CITIZENSHIP.  121 

out  the  world,  in  whole  or  in  part.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  father  of  the  Apostle  was  made  a 
Roman  citizen  because  of  some  service  rendered 
to  Pompey  or  Antony,  or  perhaps  to  CsBsar  him- 
self. One  thing  we  know:  that  Saul,  or  Paul, 
as  we  now  call  him,  acquired  this  great  right  by 
birth. 

I  have  learned,  as  I  have  studied  and  reflected 
concerning  the  affairs  of  life,  to  understand  that 
there  are  no  two  things  alike,  and  especially 
that  there  are  no  two  periods  of  time  so  alike  in 
their  circumstances  that  we  can  say  that  they 
resemble  each  otHer;  yet  things  have  often  a 
general  likeness,  and  certain  periods  of  time 
have  so  many  things  in  common  that  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  compare  them.  The  latest  period  of 
the  Republic  of  Rome  as  it  merges  into  the 
Empire,  and  this  the  second  period  of  the 
Republic  of  the  United  States,  have  so  many 
things  in  common  that  to  a  cursory  examiner  it 
might  seem  that  the  younger  Republic  is  going 
the  way  of  the  older.  (Let  me  say,  however,  in 
passing,  that  it  is  the  things  that  these  two 
periods  have  not  in  common  that  will,  I  am 
sure,  prevent  this  denouement.)  On  all  the 
things  common  to  the  early  Roman  empire  and 


122  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

to  our  own  Eepublic  I  will  not  dwell.  I  want  to 
bring  before  you  one  thing  only — this :  that  the 
right  of  Roman  citizenship  was  considered  in 
those  old  days  the  greatest  dignity  in  all  the 
world.  It  made  the  Romans  the  peers  of  the 
proudest  nobles  in  every  land.  It  gave  them 
the  right  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  kings.  It 
threw  around  them  a  shield  that  none  dared  to 
break  down.  It  made  them  the  rulers  in  the 
greatest  empire  the  world  had  then,  as  yet, 
known.  And  so,  to-day,  the  right  of  American 
citizenship  makes  us  the  equals  of  the  heirs  of 
all  the  titles  of  Europe.  It  makes  us  to  be  able 
to  address  every  sovereign  as  of  right.  It 
throws  around  us  a  protection  that  the  strong- 
est nations  hesitate  to  disregard.  It  makes  us 
the  rulers  in  the  greatest  of  all  the  republics  the 
world  has  ever  known.  But  here  the  resem- 
blance ends.  The  Roman  bore  his  right  of 
citizenship  with  dignity,  as  the  highest  of  all 
earthly  honors;  the  American  bears  his  right 
of  citizenship  with  disregard,  as  a  thing  that  is 
of  little  worth. 

My  friends,  I  do  not  think  that  the  American 
people  understand — I  am  sure  that  you  do  not 
understand — that  the  right  of  American  citizen- 


GOOD  CITIZENSHIP.  123 

ship  is  the  source  of  most  of  the  political  rights 
of  men  throughout  the  world,  and  that  it  is  the 
palladium  of  them  all.  Can  you  not  see,  as  you 
read  the  history  of  this  century — a  century 
fraught  with  eternal  consequences  to  the  rights 
of  men — that  all  peoples  of  the  earth,  as  they 
have  claimed,  and  do  claim,  greater  and  greater 
freedom  for  themselves,  have  turned  their  eyes 
to  the  great  Eepublic,  have  conformed  more  and 
more  to  the  pattern  of  things  that  we  have  here 
in  the  United  States?  Do  you  not  understand 
that  if  the  political  rights  of  men  should  be  per- 
mitted to  fall  to  the  ground  in  America  they 
would  soon  be  trampled  in  the  dust  by  the  pro- 
fane and  ambitious  in  all  the  countries  of  the 
world  ?  Or  is  it  that  the  American  people — that 
you — understand  these  things,  but  that  you 
have  no  care  for  them?  Some  men  there  are, 
indeed,  who  have  no  thought  for  such  things 
as  these;  who  take  no  interest  in  the  rights  of 
man;  who  are  not  even  thankful  for  the  con- 
ditions of  freedom  in  which  they  live,  by  which 
they  have  been  enabled  to  advance  themselves 
and  their  affairs  in  the  body  politic;  and  these 
men,  I  am  afraid,  are  on  the  increase.  But 
there  are  others,  thank  God !  who  are  thankful 


124  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

for  the  dignity  of  American  citizenship;  who 
would  die  for  the  maintenance  of  the  rights  of 
men ;  who  praise  God  each  day  for  the  glorious 
heritage  that  they  enjoy;  and  these  men,  I  am 
sure,  will  overcome  the  others,  because  they  are 
positive  and  the  others  are  negative,  and  an 
affirmation  is  always  stronger  than  a  negation. 

Now,  let  me  say  that  we  speak  of  ourselves 
as  of  a  sovereign  people,  and  we  consider  each 
man  to  have  a  share  in  the  great  sovereign 
power  of  the  nation;  and  this  is  undoubtedly 
so.  All  ultimate  power  resides  with  the  people 
as  a  whole,  and  with  no  fraction  or  a  part  of 
them.  The  unreflecting  may  say,  "I  thought 
that  it  resided  with  the  majority!"  And  so  it 
does  immediately,  but  ultimately  it  resides  with 
the  people  as  a  whole;  for  the  majority  may 
change  to  a  minority  to-morrow,  and  the  next 
day  to  a  majority  again.  The  sovereign  power 
resides  with  the  whole  people.  The  majority 
merely  express  the  wishes  of  the  people,  and 
that  expression,  for  the  while,  dominates  and 
controls.  I  think  that  the  American  people 
ought  to  get  this  great  truth  into  their  minds; 
and  if  they  do  so  I  am  sure  that  many  of  the 
evils  which  attend  upon  party  fealty  will  disap- 


GOOD  CIT1ZENSH11>.  \2d 

pear.  It  is  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  abuse  of 
power.  Men  look  upon  themselves  in  connec- 
tion with  their  party  rather  than  in  relation  to 
their  citizenship;  and  so  they  desire  the  party 
in  power,  when  that  party  is  not  their  own,  to 
fail,  no  matter  what  may  be  their  and  the  peo- 
ple's loss  as  a  whole.  The  men  who  are  elected 
to  ofiB.ce  in  the  United  States,  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest,  should  learn  that  they  are  to  serve 
the  people's  rather  than  their  party's  interests ; 
and  I  am  sure  that  for  the  most  part  they  would 
rather  serve  the  people  than  party  if  it  were  not 
for  the  foolish  bellicose  attitude  of  partizans  out 
of  ofl&ce. 

As  you  and  I  are  parts  of  the  sovereign  peo- 
ple, we  share  in  their  great  power ;  and  we  share 
in  the  power  of  the  sovereign  people  wherever  it 
exists :  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  in  those  of 
the  separate  States,  in  those  of  the  counties  and 
towns,  in  administration,  in  legislation,  in  judi- 
cature, in  the  pohce  power.  The  men  who  oc- 
cupy the  various  positions  in  these  separate 
departments  of  power  occupy  them  by  virtue  of 
the  will  of  the  sovereign  people,  whose  servants 
they  are.  They  occupy  them  in  virtue  of  your 
and  of  my  will,  expressed  conjointly  with  that 


126  CiViC  CHRISTIANITY. 

of  others ;  and  they  are  your  and  my  and  others' 
servants.  The  government  of  and  in  the  United 
States  is  representative,  not  because  it  is  the 
best  way,  but  because  it  is  the  only  way  that  can 
be  devised  that  will  work,  where  so  many  citi- 
zens are  sovereigns.  The  whole  of  the  people 
cannot  conveniently  direct  the  administration 
of  affairs ;  the  whole  cannot  conveniently  make 
the  laws ;  the  whole  cannot  sit  on  the  benches  of 
the  courts ;  the  whole  cannot  exercise  the  power 
of  supervision  and  control;  nor  are  the  whole 
people  always  primarily  concerned  in  especial 
affairs  of  government.  So  the  whole  power  is 
divided  up  into  parts,  and  these  parts  into  parts 
again.  Each  part  and  part  of  parts  elect  and 
appoint  their  especial  representatives  for  the 
many  especial  purposes  of  government.  Yet 
behind  each  part  and  part  of  parts  the  whole 
people  stand.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the 
people  stand  immediately  behind  the  whole  and 
every  part  in  the  machinery  of  government  as 
the  same  has  been  devised;  but  practically  the 
people  stand  behind  all  power  which  is  exercised 
in  the  land ;  and  in  case  of  abuse  or  failure  of 
the  use  of  power  by  any  part,  the  sovereign 
people  will  intervene. 


GOOD  CITIZENSHIP.  127 

It  is  a  glorious  right  and  privilege,  this,  in 
which  you  and  I  share — power  in  and  over 
sixty-five  millions  of  people.  Ah,  my  friends, 
what  should  be  our  feeling  of  responsibility  to- 
ward this  great  thing!  Now  let  me  say  that 
the  feeling  of  responsibility  we  have  toward  any 
especial  thing  must  be  measured  by  the  impor- 
tance of  the  thing  itself,  and  not  by  the  number 
of  people  who  share  in  the  responsibility ;  for  if 
it  be  measured  by  the  number  of  people  who 
share  in  the  responsibility,  where  there  is  a  great 
number,  a  great  many  might  fall  away  and  no 
harm  be  done.  If  many  should  fall  away  from 
exercising  their  rights  in  the  sovereign  power 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  the  people 
would,  as  a  whole,  be  unable  to  express  them- 
selves; and  it  is  the  expression  of  the  whole 
people  that  can  determine  what  is  to  be  done  in 
any  given  case,  the  majority,  as  I  have  explained, 
voicing  the  expression.  You  have  no  right,  by  re- 
fusing to  use  your  share  in  the  sovereign  power 
of  the  people,  to  defraud  them  out  of  the  ex- 
pression of  your  judgment.  It  is  your  bounden 
duty  to  exercise  all  the  power  which  you  have 
as  a  citizen — a  duty  which  you  owe  not  only  to 
yourself  as  a  man,  but  to  the  people  as  mankind. 


128  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

Now  I  am  sure  you  had  in  mind,  as  I  said 
what  I  have  said  in  regard  to  our  responsibility 
toward  the  sovereign  power  of  the  people,  the 
duty  of  all  men  who  have  the  franchise  to  vote 
(I  have  this  in  mind,  but  I  have  far  more  than 
this) ;  and  you  say  to  yourself,  "  What  is  the  use 
of  my  voting,  when  the  vote  of  an  entirely  igno- 
rant Pole  or  Hun  will  have  as  much  value  as 
mine  ?"  That  is  not  the  way  to  look  at  the 
matter.  If  the  vote  of  the  Pole  or  Hun  is  an 
ignorant  one,  you  should  do  your  best  to  neu- 
tralize it.  But  more :  you  should  do  your  best 
to  see  that  no  more  such  ignorant  votes  be  cast. 
You  and  such  as  you  should  use  your  share  in 
the  power  of  the  land  to  see  that  no  votes  at  all 
be  cast  except  by  those  who  understand  what 
they  are  voting  for ;  that  intelligence  be  made 
everywhere  the  basis  of  the  right  to  participate 
in  the  sovereign  power ;  and  you  should  see  that 
this  qualification  of  intelligence  be  applied  as 
well  to  the  native  as  to  the  foreign-born  citizens 
of  the  United  States. 

And  do  not  tell  me  that  this  gi*eat  desideratum 
cannot  be  brought  about !  The  American  peo- 
ple are  as  keenly  alive  to  the  tendency  of  popu- 
lar opinion  as  the  weather-vanes  to  the  prevail- 


GOOD  CITIZENSHIP.  129 

ing  winds.  If  you  and  such  as  you  will  take  the 
trouble  to  formulate  and  make  such  a  demand 
upon  the  body  politic,  that  body  will  respond; 
and  it  will  see  that  its  representatives  in  Wash- 
ington or  in  Lansing,  or  wherever  they  may 
be,  carry  out  its  will  by  legislation.  But  mark, 
legislation  will  be  of  no  value  unless  you  and 
such  as  you  see  to  it  that  its  provisions  are 
carried  out.  You  and  such  as  you  must  be  will- 
ing to  promote  the  ends  of  legislation  even  to 
the  extent  of  taking  office,  and  especially  of  tak- 
ing the  minor  offices,  and  seeing  that  the  law  is 
carried  out.  I  read  not  long  ago  of  a  manufac- 
turing chemist  of  East  London.  His  fellow-citi- 
zens desired  that  he  should  serve  them  as  a 
member  of  some  local  board.  To  do  so  he  would 
have  to  give  up  a  business  which  he  had  made 
successful.  He  had  made  a  fortune,  and  now 
the  question  came.  Should  he  go  on  and  acquire 
more  wealth,  or  was  it  his  duty,  as  he  had  ac- 
quired a  competency,  to  serve  the  public  ?  He 
chose  to  serve  the  public.  What  an  example 
does  this  set  the  wealthy  men  of  our  own  land ! 
It  is  a  shame — a  crying  shame — that  men,  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  not  only  leave  to  the 
ignorant  the  power  to  vote,  but  that  they  suffer 


130  CIVIC  CHEISTIANITY. 

them  to  vote  for  other  ignorant  men  for  so  many 
of  the  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  people ;  that  they 
calmly  permit  others  more  ignorant  still  to  carry 
out  (even  to  nullify)  the  wishes  of' the  people; 
and  so  we,  sovereigns  of  the  United  States,  have 
come  to  such  passivity  that  we  speak  of  our  leg- 
islatures and  of  Congress  as  not  being  willing  to 
do  this  or  that,  when  they  should  be  compelled 
to  do  as  the  people  will,  or  be  thrown  out.  And 
it  has  come  about  that  as  we  feel  that  Congress 
and  the  State  legislatures  do  pretty  much  as 
they  please,  or  as  a  body  of  rascally  men  hang- 
ing about  them  persuade  them  by  threats  and 
promises  and  money  to  do,  we  lose  respect  for 
the  laws  of  the  land,  and  when  we  can  we  shirk 
and  evade  them.  I  speak  out  of  experience. 
Once  upon  a  time,  when  I  was  a  very  young 
man,  I  was  sent  to  one  of  the  legislatures  of  one 
of  our  States.  It  was  the  saddest  experience  of 
my  life.  In  and  out,  circling  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Senate  and  Assembly,  were  hundreds 
of  evil  men  with  wrongful  and  often  nefarious 
schemes,  seeking  to  secure  some  legislation  in 
their  own  or  in  their  party's  behalf,  at  no  mat- 
ter what  harm  or  expense  to  the  people  at  large. 
Among  all  these  lobbyists  there  was  scarcely  a 


GOOD  CITIZENSHIP.  131 

man  who  was  influenced  simply  by  patriotic  mo- 
tives. If  you,  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
permit  the  offices  of  government  to  be  occupied 
by  the  ignorant  and  inexperienced  (not  to  speak 
of  the  vicious),  you  should  at  least  do  what  you 
can  to  uphold  them  in  the  right,  and  not  let  them 
become  a  prey  for  the  ignoble  band  of  lobbyists, 
who  are  worse  than  train-wreckers  and  bandits. 
It  is  a  dreadful  state  of  affairs,  this  to  which 
we  have  come.  The  people  care  but  little  for 
their  laws.  Take  the  laws  of  the  land  as  ap- 
plied to  the  customs.  How  many  do  not  think 
it  right  to  smuggle  in  a  lot  of  things  for  the  use 
of  themselves  and  friends,  and  cheat  the  govern- 
ment ?  Take  the  tax  laws  as  applied  to  personal 
property.  How  many  there  are  who  become 
borrowers  at  the  time  the  assessment  is  made, 
or  who  buy  things  that  cannot  be  taxed !  How 
many,  again,  leave  their  actual  domiciles — the 
place  where  their  wealth  was  made,  and  wherein 
it  is  protected — and  go  to  some  little  town  and 
take  up  their  residence  there,  so  that  they  can 
escape  their  just  share  of  the  burden  of  their 
municipalities  ?  This  thing  is  done  in  New  York 
and  Boston  as  well  as  in  Detroit.  It  is  no  answer 
to  say  that  the  municipal  taxes  are  gi'eater  than 


132  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

they  ought  to  be,  when  this  the  intelligent  class 
of  citizens  have  the  remedy  in  their  own  hands. 
If  there  are  abuses  in  the  government  of  their 
cities,  let  them  take  hold  and  reform  the  same. 

How  many  men,  do  you  think,  if  we  should 
have  an  income  tax,  will  give  in  a  true  state- 
ment of  their  incomes?*  When  we  had  an  in- 
come tax,  some  thirty  years  ago,  it  was  the  men 
with  fixed  and  ascertained  salaries  who  paid  the 
larger  taxes — not  the  great  millionaires.  It  is 
shameful — this  state  of  affairs,  this  lack  of  patri- 
otism, this  unwillingness  to  suffer  somewhat  for 
the  good  of  the  whole ;  and  it  all  springs  out  of 
the  selfishness  of  the  intelligent  class  of  the  land. 
They  neglect  their  duties,  and  give  over  the  con- 
trol of  affairs  to  ignorance  and  often  to  vice,  in 
order  that  they  may  have  more  time  to  devote 
to  the  pursuit  of  wealth  and  the  pleasures  that 
wealth  brings.  Then,  as  a  certain  amount  of 
injustice  is  done  them  (as  well  as  to  others,  by 
the  way),  they  sulk,  and  seek  to  avoid  the  con- 
sequences of  their  selfishness  and  folly  by  ways 
which,  to  say  the  least,  are  devious.  Oh,  I  am 
sick  and  tired  of  the  pusillanimity  of  these  men 
— grumblers  and  hypocrites ! 

*  This  sermon  was  preached  May  27,  1894. 


GOOD  CITIZENSHIP.  133 

Occasionally,  it  is  true,  men  of  this  class  do 
take  some  part  in  some  department  of  the  power 
of  the  people ;  but  herein  comes  the  trouble.  The 
men  of  intelligence,  as  a  rule,  enter  the  arena  of 
politics  (as  we  say)  for  the  purpose  of  wealth. 
This  is  not  always  true ;  but  my  experience  leads 
me  to  aver  that  it  is  generally  true.  Their  ends 
are  not  much  elevated  above  the  ends  of  the  rest 
of  the  class  to  which  they  belong.  And  then, 
too,  they  become  ambitious ;  they  want  always 
to  be  climbing  up  the  political  ladder;  and  so 
they  look  more  at  the  rung  above  them  than  at 
the  place  where  they  stand  and  the  duties  that 
devolve  upon  them  therefrom.  Again,  they  use 
their  power,  often,  that  they  may  promote 
schemes  in  which  they  or  their  friends  are  inter- 
ested. Can  you  blame  people  that  they  do  not 
trust  them?  Let  intelligence  enter  politics  for 
patriotic  motives,  and  I  tell  you  it  tvill  rule.  It 
is  the  natural  order  in  the  kingdoms  of  men  and 
of  God. 

What  I  say  is  that  intelligence  should  enter 
politics  with  the  simple  desire  to  do  good;  and 
when  it  shall  do  so  fully,  the  cause  of  good  gov- 
ernment will  be  gained.  Ah,  I  say  to  you,  my 
brethren,  arouse  yourselves,  ai-ouse  your  fellow- 


134  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

men ;  and  if  you  cannot  arouse  them,  arouse  the 
women!  There  are  so  many  things  which  need 
correction  by  legislation.  Every  periodical  you 
take  up  speaks  to  you  of  them;  every  journal 
tells  you  of  some  new  union  or  society  or  associa- 
tion that  has  been  formed  to  promote  the  social 
amelioration  of  the  people:  to  put  down  the 
sweating  system,  the  low  tenement-house,  the 
evil  saloon;  to  prevent  the  labor  of  little  chil- 
dren; to  enforce  a  living  wage  to  the  lonely 
woman.  There  are  so  many  things,  too,  which 
need  only  good  administration  to  reform.  The 
laws  are  for  the  most  part  good  enough;  the 
trouble  is  that  they  are  not  carried  out.  Grive 
over  the  desire  for  gain  and  wealth  and  pleasure. 
Look  to  the  first  great  citizens  of  this  land. 
These  men  gained  wealth;  but  they  gave  not 
their  whole  thought  to  it,  but  only  a  part.  Their 
heart's  desire  was  the  welfare  and  honor  of  their 
country. 

You  may  say,  "Yes,  but  all  men  cannot  take 
office ;  some  have  got  to  be  content  with  exercis- 
ing simply  their  right  of  suffrage."  True,  all 
men  cannot  take  office;  but  no  man  should  be 
content  simply  to  exercise  his  right  of  suffrage. 
If  all  men  cannot  take  office  in  an  honest  and 


.     GOOD  CITIZENSHIP.  135 

good  government,  all  men  can  help  to  formulate 
and  express  views  and  sentiments  that  will  up- 
hold those  who  have  taken  office.  And  this  it 
is  every  man's  duty  to  do.  Ah,  you  do  not 
understand  the  strength  of  public  opinion  in  the 
affairs  of  the  country,  and  yet  it  is  the  gi'eatest 
and  chiefest  of  all  powers.  It  is,  indeed,  the 
only  power  that  can  keep  the  ship  of  state  true, 
pointing  ever  on  her  right  course,  upward  and 
onward.  See  what  public  opinion  has  done  here, 
in  this  our  city,  in  regard  to  the  High  School 
site !  Public  opinion  is  as  much  the  life  of  the 
nation  as  the  Spirit  of  God  is  the  hfe  of  man. 
By  it  alone  can  people  be  lifted  out  of  the  gi'eed 
of  gain ;  by  it  alone  can  the  evils  of  intemper- 
ance be  eradicated;  by  it  alone  can  the  fetters 
of  selfishness  be  broken ;  by  it  alone  can  men  be 
made  to  see  what  are  their  duties  to  mankind  and 
the  state. 

But  how  shall  public  opinion  be  formed  ?  By 
your  and  such  as  your  speech  and  acts — in  meet- 
ings, in  private  conversation,  in  the  public  press, 
in  books.  And  how  shall  I  get  my  opinion  that 
will  go  to  make  up  public  opinion?  There  are 
many  sources.  There  are  papers,  books,  and  ar- 
ticles innumerable.    But  the  greatest  source  is 


136  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

the  source  whence  all  these  spring — the  life  of 
Jesus  Christ,  as  applied  to  the  present  every-day 
affairs  of  men ;  applied  not  in  the  narrow  bigotry 
of  religionism,  but  in  the  broad  liberty  of  Him 
who  consorted  with  all  men  of  all  conditions,  and 
who  appealed  to  the  best  that  was  in  them. 

Arouse  ye,  oh,  arouse  ye,  ye  careless  citizens 
of  the  land !  Sell  not  your  birthright  for  a  mess 
of  pottage,  no  matter  how  good  it  may  taste. 


IX. 

GOOD   GOVERNMENT. 

"They  brought  unto  Him  a  penny.     And  He  saith  unto  them, 

Whose  is  this  image  and  superscription?     They  say  unto  Him, 

Cffisar's.    Then  saith  He  unto  them,  Render  therefore  unto  Csesar 

the  things  which  are  C«esar's ;  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are 

God's." — Matt.  xxii.  19-21. 
I 

My  purpose  this  morning  is  to  speak  to  you 
oil  the  most  important  of  all  subjects  of  the  day 
— Good  Grovernment. 

I  spoke  to  you  last  spring  on  Good  Citizenship, 
and  incidentally  touched  on  my  present  subject ; 
for  it  is  impossible  to  speak  of  the  one  without 
reference  to  the  other.  Yet  they  are  different, 
even  as  constitutional  law  and  politics  are  differ- 
ent. Constitutional  law  looks  at  the  state  from 
the  standpoint  of  its  form  and  order;  politics 
looks  at  the  state  from  the  standpoint  of  its 
rise  and  evolution.  And  so  good  government 
has  regard  to  the  state  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  men  who  govern ;  good  citizenship  from  the 
standpoint  of  those  who  are  governed. 

Let  me  clear  the  ground  for  my  subject  by 

137 


138  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

first  pointing  out  to  you  that  there  are  many 
theories  as  to  how  the  state  arose;  because,  as 
I  shall  show,  our  idea  of  good  government  de- 
pends upon  the  theory  we  hold  as  to  the  way  the 
state  came  into  existence.  I  cannot  enter  upon 
a  discussion  of  all  these  theories ;  it  is  not  neces- 
sary. It  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  generally  speak- 
ing, four  theories  have  been  held,  viz.,  the  the- 
ory of  brute  power,  the  theory  of  contract,  the 
theory  of  family  relationship,  the  theory  of  theo-« 
cratic  foundation. 

1.  The  theory  of  brute  power  maintains  that 
the  state  is  the  work  of  the  conquest  of  the  weak 
by  the  strong.  It  asserts  that  might  makes 
right.  It  has  a  plausible  look,  and  has  had  many 
friends,  especially  among  heartless  despots  and 
fanatic  revolutionists.  Yet  it  is  evident  that  it 
is  not  correct,  because  it  regards  the  state  as 
held  together  simply  by  force,  and  leaves  no 
room  for  moral  relations  and  responsibilities. 
If  the  theory  of  brute  power  were  correct,  then 
there  could  be  no  place  for  the  idea  of  law  com- 
manding respect  outside  of  its  rewards  and 
penalties. 

2.  The  theory  of  contract,  since  Rousseau 
wrote  his  "  Contrat  Social,"  has  been  very  popu- 


GOOD  GOVERNMENT.  X39 

lar,  chiefly  iu  republican  countries.  It  asserts 
that  the  state  is  the  free  work  of  a  contract 
entered  into  by  its  citizens.  This  theory  has 
been  most  pleasing  to  the  little  political  philoso- 
phers, because  it  flatters  their  feeling  of  impor- 
tance, making  them  to  feel  that  each  one  of  them 
is  a  founder  of  a  state,  and  that  that  state  exists 
only  by  his  will  and  consent.  The  theory  would 
be  admirable  if  all  men  were  devoted  to  good 
government,  and  sought  only  its  ends ;  but  since 
all  men  are  not  devoted  to  good  government,  and 
seek  their  own  as  often  as  the  ends  of  the  state, 
and  yet  would,  if  this  theory  were  correct,  have 
a  right  to  say  that  the  state  should  not  exist  but 
by  their  will  and  consent,  it  works  badly;  it 
leads  to  the  dread  terror  of  anarchy.  Besides, 
history  tells  us  that  this  theory  is  absurd,  for  it 
starts  with  the  premise  that  men  have  been  as 
they  are  now,  and  we  know  that  our  immediate 
ancestors  were  uncouth  barbarians,  and  our  far- 
off  progenitors  more  like  animals  than  men. 

3.  And  so  we  come  to  an  examination  of  the 
third  theory — that  the  state  arose  by  reason  of 
family  relationship.  "  The  effect  of  the  evidence 
derived  from  comparative  jurisprudence,"  says 
Maine,  in  "  Ancient  Law,"  "  is  to  establish  that 


140  ^'IVIC  CHEIbTIANlTY. 

view  of  the  primeval  condition  of  the  hnman 
race  which  is  known  as  the  Patriarchal  Theory." 
In  support  of  this  theory  there  conies  in  on  the 
one  side  the  evidence  of  the  Scriptures — evi- 
dence that  may  be  called  religious ;  and  on  the 
other  side  there  comes  in  the  evidence  of  ancient 
codes — evidence  that  may  be  called  legal.  The 
points  in  support  of  this  theory  which  lie  on  the 
surface  of  history,  both  scriptural  and  non-scrip- 
tural, are  these :  The  eldest  male  parent  is  abso- 
lutely supreme  in  his  household.  His  dominion 
extends  to  life  and  death,  and  is  as  unqualified 
over  his  children  as  over  his  slaves.  The  flocks 
and  herds  of  the  children  are  the  flocks  and  herds 
of  the  father ;  and  the  possessions  of  the  father, 
which  he  holds  in  a  representative  rather  than 
in  a  proprietary  character,  are  equally  divided 
at  his  death  among  his  descendants,  the  eldest 
son  receiving  merely  a  double  share. 

"Archaic  law  ...  is  full  in  all  its  provinces 
of  the  clearest  indications  that  society  in  primi- 
tive times  was  not  what  it  is  assumed  to  be — a 
collection  of  individuals ;  in  fact,  and  in  view  of 
the  men  who  composed  it,  it  was  an  aggregation 
of  families.^''  And  it  is  in  this  way  that  Professor 
Drummond  speaks  in  the  book  that  we  have  all 


GOOD  GOVERNMENT.  141 

been  reading — "  The  Ascent  of  Man  " :  "  Almost 
from  the  very  first,  indeed,  the  Family,  and  not 
the  individual,  must  have  been  the  unit  of  Tribal 
life ;  and  as  Families  grew  more  and  more  defi- 
nite, they  became  the  recognized  piers  of  the 
social  structure,  and  gave  a  first  stability  to  the 
race  of  men."  "  The  Family  is  not  only  its  [evolu- 
tion's] greatest  creation,  but  its  greatest  instru- 
ment for  further  creation." 

4.  And  lastly,  a  word  in  regard  to  the  theory 
of  theocratic  foundation.  I  maintain  that  it  is 
out  of  the  fact  that  the  family  is  the  unit  of  the 
state,  and  not  because  God  can  be  presumed  to 
have  raised  single  men  above  the  condition  of 
others,  and  to  have  given  them  especial  powers, 
that  it  can  and  should  be  said  that  all  power 
and  authority  is  of  God.  I  mean  that  God,  who 
is  our  Father,  and  treats  men  always  as  living 
in  families,  can  never  be  said  to  have  instituted 
and  to  have  maintained  the  state,  except  as  it  is 
the  expansion  of  a  single  family  into  many  cor- 
related ones,  into  an  organism  that  is  now  held 
together  by  the  family  idea !  It  is  only  because 
of  this  fact  that  we  can  understand  the  words  of 
St.  Paul  that  seemed  to  support  the  authority  of 
vile  Nero :  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the 


142  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

higher  powers.    For  there  is  no  power  but  of 
God :  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God." 

The  state,  then,  let  ns  accept  as  proven,  rests 
upon  the  theory  of  family  relationship  j  and  let  us 
believe  that  it  is  because  of  this  that  God  is  the 
upholder  of  the  state.  If  we  accept  this  theory 
as  a  fact,  we  can  see  at  once  what  should  be  the 
conduct  of  the  governors  toward  the  governed ; 
how  they  should  rega;rd  their  duties  toward 
them.  The  great  trouble  with  the  present  con- 
dition of  affairs  is  that  the  governors — that  is, 
those  who  are  in  the  positions  of  power — regard 
the  state  as  a  mass  of  individuals  having  no  re- 
lation to  one  another,  and  their  duty  as  impera- 
tive to  themselves  as  to  others.  And  this  trouble, 
I  affirm,  has  arisen  greatly  through  the  preva- 
lence of  the  contract  theory  of  the  rise  of  a 
state,  which  postulates  that  the  state  deals  with 
individuals,  and  not  with  families.  When  the 
people  of  the  United  States  shall  rise  to  a  con- 
viction that  they  are  one  great  family,  and  that 
the  executive  power  is  as  a  father  to  them,  to 
look  after  their  interests  with  paternal  care; 
when  they  shall  decree  that  the  courts  of  law 
shall  judge  according  to  what  is  right  in  a  great 
family ;  when  they  shall  impress  upon  their  rep- 


GOOD  GOVERNMENT.  143 

resentatives  the  principle  of  considering  all  the 
members  of  the  nation  alike,  of  which  if  one 
suffers  all  shall  suffer,  then  and  then  only  shall 
we  have  good  government.  The  governors  in 
the  United  States  always  follow  the  leading  of 
the  governed;  these  last  have  only  to  express 
their  will  clearly  and  emphatically,  and  that  will 
will  prevail. 

Let  me  repeat,  the  whole  trouble  with  the 
present  state  of  government  in  the  United  States 
arises  through  the  fact  that  men  regard  the  in- 
dividual as  the  unit  of  the  state,  and  not  the 
family;  consequently  the  state  is  treated  as  an 
aggi-egation  of  individuals,  of  which  some  may 
prosper  and  some  may  suffer  without  loss  to  the 
body  politic;  consequently,  too,  the  state  in  its 
laws  and  in  its  life  has  no  consideration  for  the 
family,  and  the  many  and  loving  relationships 
that  spring  out  of  the  family  idea,  but  only  for 
the  individual  and  his  duties.  And  the  indi- 
vidual, thrust  out  of  a  family  organism,  behaves 
toward  the  state  and  toward  its  citizens  as  an 
Ishmaelite,  having  a  hand  against  every  man. 

Let  me  now  bring  my  assertion  into  touch 
with  life,  and  examine  how  this  theory  would 
work  if  carried  into  practice.    And  first,  then, 


144  CrV'IC  CHRISTIANITY. 

let  us  look  at  how  the  theory  would  work  in 
our  cities  and  towns.  In  the  towns,  indeed,  the 
idea  of  family  has  never  been  entirely  lost  to 
view,  as  all  the  citizens  thereof  come  together 
from  time  to  time  to  discuss  common  affairs. 
But  in  the  cities  the  idea  has  been  lost  sight  of. 
Cities  have  grown  so  large  that  it  is  impossible 
for  all  of  their  electors  to  come  together  any- 
where at  any  one  time;  so  a  system  of  represen- 
tation has  been  adopted.  A  city  has  a  mayor, 
who  is  elected  by  the  whole  city  at  large ;  and  it 
has  several  aldermen,  who  are  elected  by  pre- 
cincts or  wards.  Other  officers  are  often  elected, 
such  as  school  commissioners  and  judges  of  the 
criminal  courts.  But  the  municipal  power  is 
presumed  to  be  vested  in  the  mayor  as  the  chief 
executive,  and  in  the  board  of  aldermen  as  the 
principal  legislative  body  of  the  city. 

What  I  assert  is  this:  the  mayor  should  look 
upon  himself  as  standing  in  the  place  of  a  father 
to  the  city  which  he  governs ;  as  having  no  care 
for  party,  no  ambition  for  himself,  no  intention 
but  that  of  doing  his  duty  as  the  father  of  a 
family.  And  if  men  could  be  elected  who  would 
have  such  an  ideal  of  their  place  and  power, 
much  would  be  done  to  solve  all  the  hard  ques- 


GOOD  GOVERNMENT.  145 

tions  of  municipal  government.  I  am  sure  that 
the  many  ways  that  have  been  devised  of  shear- 
ing the  mayor  of  his  prerogatives  by  the  multi- 
pHcation  of  independent  boards  and  commissions 
would  disappear,  and  thereout  would  come  the 
unity  in  municipalities  that  is  so  much  desired. 
As  it  is  at  present,  the  mayor  of  the  city  and  the 
members  of  its  various  boards  and  commissions 
seem  to  be  always  at  cross-purposes.  They  wage 
an  unending  internecine  war.  I  contend  that 
the  members  of  all  executive  boards  and  com- 
missions should  be  appointed  by  the  mayor 
without  confirmation,  and  that  they  should  be 
directly  responsible  to  him,  the  mayor  himself 
being  responsible  to  the  people. 

If  the  mayor  would  consider  himself  to  be, 
and  to  act  as,  the  chief  father  of  the  city,  the 
greatest  good  would  come;  and  even  if  the 
mayor  should  not  consider  himself  to  be  simply 
the  father,  even  then,  I  aver,  it  would  be  far 
better  to  put  the  responsibility  for  government 
directly  upon  him  than  to  divide  it  up  and  par- 
cel it  among  bureaus  and  departments.  The 
people  should  be  able  to  see  who  is  to  blame 
for  the  maladministration  of  their  affairs,  as 
well  as  able  to  give  credit  for  good  government. 


146  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

Some  check  could  be  devised,  through  the  board 
of  aldermeu  and  the  courts,  by  which  the  mayor 
could  be  brought  to  book  for  wrong-doing.  If 
the  mayoralty  were  exalted  to  such  a  position  of 
power  and  dignity,  surely  the  best  citizens  could 
be  induced  to  stand  for  it — that  is,  when  the  best 
people  of  the  community  desired  them  to  do  so. 
And  these  same  things  can  be  said  of  the  board 
of  aldermen  as  of  the  mayor.  All  the  legislative 
power  of  the  vai-ious  other  boards  and  commis- 
sions should  be  lodged  in  their  hands,  and  there- 
with many  other  diversified  rights  and  interests 
that  are  now  scattered  under  various  heads. 
The  ofi&ce  of  alderman  should  be  magnified  as 
much  as  possible,  and  the  aldermen  should  be 
taught  to  feel  that  they  are  not  "  city  fathers " 
only  in  name,  but  in  fact;  and  so  the  best  citi- 
zens would  soon  be  induced  to  stand  for  the 
place  of  alderman. 

Why,  my  friends,  it  is  this  simple  thing  that 
made  the  people  of  Holland  great — this,  I  say: 
that  all  men  in  power  looked  upon  themselves 
as  standing  in  the  place  of  fathers  to  the  people, 
from  William  the  Silent  to  the  simplest  burgo- 
master and  schepen  in  the  land.  What  I  aver 
is  this ;  that  in  our  cities  (outside  of  the  judicial 


GOOD  GOVEENMENT.  147 

power,  which  must  be  lodged  iu  the  courts)  all 
power  should  be  vested  directly  in  either  the 
mayor  or  in  the  board  of  aldermen ;  and  all  com- 
missions and  boards,  of  whatsoever  kind,  should 
be  their  committees  and  appointees.  Now  you 
may  say  that  this  is  antidemocratic;  I  deny  it. 
The  mayor  and  the  aldermen  are  to  be  elected  by 
the  people,  and  they  are  directly  responsible  to 
them.  The  nearer  you  get  to  the  people — that 
is,  the  more  immediate  the  exercise  of  power  is 
in  its  relation  to  the  body  that  confers  it — the 
more  democratic  is  the  government.  The  trouble 
now  is  that  the  exercise  of  power  is  so  cut  up 
and  confused  that  the  men  who  have  it  do  not 
feel  that  they  are  in  contact  with  the  people  at 
all;  therefore  that  they  are  not  their  creatures 
and  servants. 

To  bring  about  this  simple  thing  would  be 
very  easy.  There  are  many  good  citizens  in  the 
land;  many  men  who  are  capable  of  giving  to 
the  cause  of  good  government  and  social  moral- 
ity the  same  devotion  that  they  now  give  to  the 
cause  of  money-making.  The  thing  that  hinders 
them  and  keeps  them  out  of  active  participation 
in  municipal  affairs  is  the  play  of  party  politics, 
and  the  knowledge  that  even  if  they  should  be 


148  CIVIC  CHKISTIANITY. 

elected  to  some  office,  tliey  would  be  almost 
powerless,  and  be  placed  between  so  many  cross- 
fires of  direction  that  they  would  inevitably 
make  mistakes.  You  have  but  to  centralize  the 
direction  as  I  have  shown,  in  the  first  place; 
and,  in  the  second,  you  have  to  drop  out  party 
politics  in  municipalities ;  and  the  cause  of  good 
government  is  gained.  It  is  utterly  ridiculous 
that  because  men  are  Democratic  and  inclined 
to  free  trade,  or  Republican  and  inclined  to  pro- 
tection, they  should  therefore  find  themselves 
on  different  sides  in  regard  to  the  proper  man- 
agement of  their  respective  cities.  And  the 
dropping  of  party  politics  out  of  municipalities 
will  not  only  aid  to  secure  good  men  for  office, 
but  it  will  do  something  more :  it  will  weaken 
the  power  of  the  caucus;  yes,  eventually  it  will 
destroy  it,  for  caucuses  thrive  only  when  party 
politics  thrive;  and  caucuses  are  the  curse  of 
the  country.  Drop  party  politics  out  of  muni- 
cipal affairs,  and  no  man  would  feel  himself  to 
be  bound  by  the  nomination  of  a  caucus ;  even- 
tually, I  believe,  no  party  nominations  would  be 
made. 

But  I  go  further,  and  say  that  it  is  just  as 
ridiculous  to  have  party  politics  in  State  as  in 


GOOD  GOVERNMENT.  149 

municipal  affairs.  I  was  educated  a  lawyer,  as 
you  know,  and  was  once  a  member  of  the  New 
Jersey  legislature;  and  I  assure  you  that  with 
the  exception  of  the  questions  touching  office, 
when  elections  were  to  be  made  on  the  joint 
ballot  of  the  Senate  and  the  House,  there  was 
no  more  reason  for  party  politics  in  the  legisla- 
ture than  there  is  for  them  in  the  Territory  of 
Alaska.  And  I  propose  a  very  simple  remedy 
for  the  eradication  of  this  evil  in  State  legisla- 
tures ;  it  is  this :  let  the  senators  of  the  United 
States  be  elected  by  the  people  of  the  several 
States,  and -not  by  their  representatives.  I  know 
that  there  are  some  who  affirm  that  this  plan  is 
revolutionary — notably  Senator  Edmunds,  in  the 
December*  number  of  the  Forum.  But  what  of 
it  ?  Many  other  revolutionary  things  have  been 
done  in  our  government  since  the  Constitution 
was  formed.  The  reason  why  I  think  that  this 
change  is  desirable  is  this :  At  present  the  man 
who  wants  to  be  senator  gets  his  henchmen  to 
run  the  caucuses  in  the  various  electoral  dis- 
tricts of  the  State  in  favor  of  men  favorable  to 
himself.  Then  he  gives  a  good  round  contribu- 
tion to  the  sum  of  money  raised  by  partizans  to 

*  1894. 


150  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

elect  these  men  over  their  adversaries.  Then  he 
and  his  friends  say  to  their  fellow-citizens  of 
their  party,  "  You  must  vote  for  the  man  nomi- 
nated by  our  party,  for  that  means  one  vote 
more  for  our  party  in  the  election  of  a  senator 
of  the  United  States."  Then  (if  the  men  who 
were  nominated  and  were  supported  by  the  sena- 
torial aspirant  be  elected  to  office)  he,  through 
his  agent,  goes  to  them  and  says ;  "  I  nominated 
you ;  I  contributed  a  sum  of  money  toward  your 
election  expenses ;  I  stirred  up  the  whole  party 
in  your  favor ;  you  are  in  duty  bound  to  vote 
for  me  for  senator."  And  so  a  double  wrong  is 
done:  the  free  representatives  of  the  people  do 
not  elect  the  senators  of  the  United  States,  as  it 
was  intended  that  they  should  do  when  the  Con- 
stitution was  formed;  and  men  who  ought  to 
have  been  elected  with  a  simple  view  to  legislat- 
ing for  State  affairs  are  really  elected  to  elect  the 
United  States  senators ;  and  the  State  suffers. 

I  shall  not  attempt,  in  the  short  time  that  is  left 
me,  to  consider  what  good  government  should 
be  in  the  State  and  in  the  general  government 
of  the  United  States.  I  desire,  however,  to  say 
one  thing,  and  that  the  same  that  I  have  said  in 
regard  to  municipal  government :  that,  as  much 


GOOD  GOVEENMENT.  151 

as  possible,  there  should  be  a  concentration  of 
power  and  of  responsibility,  with  as  close  a 
nexus  as  can  be  made  between  the  source  and 
the  exercise  of  power.  This  simple  thing,  and  a 
non-partizan  civil  service,  will  accomplish  much 
for  the  great  cause  we  have  at  heart. 

Let  me  add  one  word  of  advice  and  admonition 
to  you  as  governors  as  well  as  governed.  Do 
not  think  that  the  officers  elected  by  you  for 
various  places  exercise  the  whole  of  the  power 
of  the  people.  They  each  exercise  but  a  small 
part  of  it,  in  fact,  though  jointly  they  exercise  a 
great  deal.  Still  the  power  of  the  State — that  is, 
the  sovereign  power — is  never  wholly  delegated ; 
much  of  it  remains  always  with  the  people — first 
in  the  ballot,  then  in  the  jury  system,  then  in 
direct  interference,  and  then  in  influence.  Of  the 
duty  of  every  elector  to  cast  his  ballot  I  shall  not 
speak  to-day.  I  have  spoken  of  this  paramount 
duty  on  another  occasion.  Of  the  duty  of  every 
citizen  to  attend  upon  the  courts,  and  to  take  his 
share  of  jury  duty,  I  cannot  speak  too  strongly. 
Who  does  not  know  that  the  jury  system  of  to- 
day is  considered  to  be  a  failure?  And  who 
does  not  know  that  the  cause  for  this  failure  lies 
primarily  at  the  door  of  the  intelligent  classes? 


152  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

They  shirk  this  duty  continually,  averring  that 
their  several  businesses  are  of  much'  more  im- 
portance than  the  maintenance  of  justice  and 
the  preservation  of  the  life  of  the  State ;  and  so, 
as  all  men  know,  a  venal,  corrupt  class  of  men 
are  drawn  on  the  panels — men  that  can  often  be 
tempted  to  swerve  from  the  right  by  the  bribes 
of  the  "  jury-fixers." 

It  has  been  alleged  during  the  past  month  by  a 
well-known  member  of  the  Detroit  bar  that  not 
a  single  prominent  criminal  has  been  convicted 
and  punished  here  for  many  years  past.  "Bad," 
says  he,  "as  the  government  of  the  city  of  New 
York  is  (and  apparently  there  is  none  worse  on 
the  earth),  whenever  the  pursuit  of  any  criminal, 
whatever  his  prominence  or  position,  has  been 
earnestly  undertaken,  he  has  been  driven  into 
the  penitentiary;  but  here  in  Detroit  there  is 
such  lax  public  opinion  that  juries  do  not  seem 
willing  to  convict  whenever  any  show  of  defense 
is  made."  "What  is  wanted  here  is  simply  a  will- 
ingness of  the  best  citizens  (if  they  can  be  called 
best)  to  sacrifice  somewhat  of  their  interests  for 
the  public  good.  The  example  set  by  the  aged 
Hon.  Hamilton  Fish,  who  had  served  his  State 
and  the  United  States  in  the  highest  official  posi- 


GOOD  GOVERNMENT.  153 

tions,  yet  who  never  shirked  his  duty  as  a  juror, 
should  commend  itself  to  all  true-hearted  Ameri- 
cans, and  shame  the  selfish  men  who  wriggle 
out  of  this  great  exercise  of  the  power  of  the 
people ! 

Of  the  duty  of  direct  interference  of  citizens  in 
the  government  of  their  country  I  cannot  speak 
at  length,  for  I  should  have  to  enter  upon  details 
that  would  weary  you ;  but  let  me  point  out  to 
you  that  when  you  have  cast  your  ballot  and 
served  upon  juries  you  have  not  by  any  means 
exhausted  your  power  and  done  your  whole  duty 
as  a  citizen.  You  should  constantly  interfere 
with  and  correct  anything  and  everything  that 
you  see  to  be  wrong.  You  perceive  what  I  mean. 
As  you  are  not  a  part  of  the  government — that  is, 
of  the  machinery  of  government — it  will  not  be 
your  duty  to  see  that  right  is  carried  into  effect. 
It  will  always  be  your  duty  to  see  that  right  is 
put  in  motion  to  be  made  effective;  and  out  of 
this  arises  a  great  deal  of  our  present  difficulty. 
Men  cast  their  ballots  and  go  home  and  say, 
"Now  let  the  elected  look  to  the  condition  of  the 
city  and  State,  and  do  all  things  that  are  neces- 
sary for  good  government ;  the  responsibility  is 
upon  them."    But  it  is  not  so ;  the  responsibility 


154  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

is  upon  them  to  a  great  extent,  but  it  is  upon 
you  too ;  and  it  is  because  you  shirk  your  share 
of  responsibility  that  the  office-holders  so  often 
do  as  they  please.  What  is  wanted  is  a  deter- 
mination upon  the  part  of  all  good  citizens  that 
the  laws  shall  be  canned  into  effect,  and  a  willing- 
ness to  set  the  machinery  of  the  laws  in  motion ; 
for  the  laws  of  the  land  are,  as  a  rule,  good  and 
beneficent. 

And  really  this  is  precisely  what  Dr.  Charles 
Parkhurst  did  in  New  York.  He  saw,  even  as 
you  can  see,  that  the  laws  were  constantly 
evaded,  and  he  got  evidence  to  show  it.  Then 
he  set  to  work  to  induce  the  governing  powers 
in  the  city  to  do  their  duty.  He  found  that 
they  had  so  long  evaded  it  that  they  were  wast- 
ing with  atrophy.  And  then  came  in  the  Lexow 
Committee  of  inquiry  into  the  ways  of  muni- 
cipal government  in  New  York.  Its  revelations 
of  crime  and  the  protection  of  crime  have  as- 
tonished the  world.  Now  suppose  you  start  to 
work  in  the  same  way,  and  take  up  something 
that  strikes  you  as  being  wrong — the  flashy  pic- 
tures on  the  bill-boards  throughout  Detroit,  for 
instance.  You  will  soon  find  that  you  will  get 
so  deep  in  the  mud  of  horrid  and  obscene  pic- 


GOOD  GOVEKNMENT.  155 

tures  and  literature  that  you  will  want  to  draw 
back ;  but  if  you  and  such  as  you  follow  up  the 
cue  and  work  it  with  all  your  energy,  and  then 
get  the  machinery  of  government  to  act,  you  will 
do  a  great  thing  for  the  cause  of  morality,  and 
your  duty.  And  you  will  have  exercised  part  of 
the  power  of  your  citizenship. 

Lastly,  let  me  speak  of  the  duty  of  the  gov- 
erned to  exercise  their  influence  with  the  gover- 
nors. This  is  something  that  goes  hand  in  hand 
with  direct  interference,  but  it  is  not  exactly  the 
same  thing.  It  is  the  force  of  the  denunciation 
of  wrong  and  of  the  unceasing  support  of  right 
exercised  in  a  community.  Ah,  my  friends,  how 
seldom  is  it  exercised !  How  seldom  will  men, 
even  when  they  are  leaders  in  a  city  or  State, 
stand  up  for  the  great  principles  of  morality, 
when  party  success  or  personal  preferences  come 
into  play !  We  have  recently  had  a  most  glar- 
ing exhibition  of  this  sort  of  moral  obtuseness  in 
the  city  of  Detroit.  I  blush  to  think  of  it,  and 
I  fear  for  its  effect  upon  the  youth  of  our  com- 
munity. 

One  word  in  conclusion,  and  I  have  done. 
The  subjects  of  good  citizenship  and  good  gov- 
ernment are  the  prime  subjects  of  thought  and 


156  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

endeavor  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land.  This  we  all  know  as  we  read  and  lis- 
ten to  the  words  that  come  to  us  from  every 
platform  and  press.  But  let  me  assure  you  that 
all  the  words  that  will  and  can  be  uttered,  all  the 
machinery  that  will  and  can  be  devised,  will  be 
of  no  avail,  unless  there  arises  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States  a  consciousness 
of  shortcoming  and  a-  determination  to  do  their 
duty,  and  their  whole  duty,  toward  God  and 
man.  God  grant  that  such  a  consciousness  and 
such  a  determination  may  arise!  God  grant 
that  the  great  Republic  may  yet  have  sons  and 
daughters  that  shall  be  worthy  of  her ;  that  shall 
not  hesitate,  if  it  need  be,  to  protect  her  life  at 
the  sacrifice  of  their  own,  much  less  of  a  portion 
of  their  time  and  efforts !  For  this  is  all  that 
good  government  demands  of  the  men  and  the 
women  who  love  truth  and  righteousness:  that 
they  devote  a  fair  portion  of  their  time  and 
efforts  to  the  cause  of  the  State. 


X. 

THE  SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON. 

"  Let  us  walk  honestly,  as  in  the  day ;  not  in  rioting  and  drunk- 
enness, not  in  chambering  and  wantonness." — Rom.  xiii.  13. 

There  are  two  great  heads  of  the  many-headed 
hydra  of  evil  that  threaten  the  present  genera- 
tion of  men,  which  if  they  could  be  cut  off  and 
destroyed  would  relieve  the  body  politic  of  the 
fear  it  has  for  its  ultimate  salvation.  I  allude 
to  the  social  evil,  so  called,  and  the  low  saloon. 
We  find  that  they  are  discussed  continually 
from  the  platform  and  in  the  press,  and  all 
sorts  of  answers  are  given  to  the  problems  how 
they  shall  be  solved.  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  able 
to  give  the  right  answers,  yet  I  think  that  I  may 
be  able  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  answers 
that  will  help  you  to  understand  the  questions 
better,  and  will  induce  you  to  work  harder  for 
their  solution. 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  understand  that 
both  the  social  evil  and  the  low  saloon  rest  upon 
things  which  are  not  evils  per  se.    It  is  evident 

157 


158  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

that  the  social  evil  does  not,  when  it  rests  upon 
the  common  division  of  life  into  sex,  which  divi- 
sion runs  through  all  nature.  And  it  is  equally 
evident  that  the  low  saloon  does  not,  when  it 
rests  upon  the  common  desire  of  men  for  stimu- 
lants, which  desire  received  its  approbation  in  the 
first  miracle  that  was  wrought  by  Christ  in  the 
marriage  supper  at  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  (I  say 
it  with  reverence)  in  the  last  supper  partaken  of 
by  Him  and  His  disciples  in  "  the  upper  cham- 
ber "  in  Jerusalem. 

But  let  me  treat  each  of  these  two  great  prob- 
lems separately ;  for  though  they  are  so  often  asso- 
ciated together,  they  are  not  alike  in  character. 
The  association  is  accidental,  and  arises  out  of 
the  fact  that  the  social  evil  flourishes  greatly  in 
low  saloons. 

How  can  the  social  evil  be  prevented  ?  Well, 
in  the  first  place,  let  us  look  at  the  causes  which 
produce  it.  What  are  they?  Ignorance  and 
want.  You  may  say,  "Not  always."  No,  not 
always  on  the  part  of  men;  but  on  the  part  of 
women  it  is  rare  that  the  causes  for  the  evil  that 
destroys  them  are  any  other  than  I  have  men- 
tioned— ignorance  and  want.  Some  few  women 
may  be  naturally  vicious,  but  not  many.    And 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.   I59 

this  very  viciousness  arises  greatly  out  of  coarse 
ignorance  allied  with  horrid  want.  And  what, 
for  the  most  part,  is  the  cause  of  ignorance  and 
want  ?    Low  and  insufficient  wages. 

It  is  impossible  to  blink  it,  my  friends :  the 
wages  that  are  paid  to  working-women — except 
to  the  very  few — are  radically  low,  and  utterly 
insufficient  to  sustain  them  in  decency  and  re- 
spectability. I  shall  not  bring  before  you  an 
array  of  statistics ;  every  newspaper  and*  every 
magazine  of  any  standing  has  during  the  past 
twenty  years  presented  statistics  showing  the 
low  rate  of  wages  that  are  paid  to  women. 

"  It  is  estimated,"  says  Jacob  A.  Riis,  in  his 
chapter  on  the  working-girls  of  New  York  in 
"  How  the  Other  Half  Lives,"  "  that  at  least  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  women  and  girls 
earn  their  own  living  in  New  York ;  but  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  this  estimate  falls  far  short 
of  the  truth  when  sufficient  account  is  taken  of 
the  large  number  who  are  not  wholly  dependent 
upon  their  own  labor,  while  contributing  by  it  to 
the  family's  earnings.  These  alone  constitute  a 
large  class  of  the  women  wage-earners ;  and  it  is 
characteristic  of  the  situation  that  the  very  fact 
that  some  need  not  starve  on  their  wages  con- 


1(30  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

demns  the  rest  to  that  fate.  The  pay  they  are 
willing  to  accept  all  have  to  take.  What  'the 
everlasting  law  of  supply  and  demand,'  that 
serves  as  such  a  convenient  gag  for  public  indig- 
nation, has  to  do  with  it  one  learns  from  obser- 
vation all  along  the  road  of  inquiry  into  these 
real  woman's  wrongs.  To  take  the  case  of  the 
saleswoman  for  illustration :  The  investigation  of 
the  Working- women's  Society  disclosed  the  fact 
that  wages  averaging  from  $2.00  to  $4.50  a  week 
were  reduced  by  excessive  fines,  '  the  employers 
placing  a  value  upon  time  lost  that  is  not  given 
to  services  rendered,'  .  .  .  The  practice  prevailed 
in  some  stores  of  dividing  the  fines  between  the 
superintendent  and  the  timekeeper  at  the  end  of 
the  year.  In  one  instance  they  amounted  to  $3000, 
*  and  the  superintendent  was  heard  to  charge  the 
timekeeper  with  not  being  strict  enough  in  his 
duties.' 

"  Sixty  cents  is  put  as  the  average  day's  earn- 
ings of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand ;  but 
into  this  computation  enters  the  stylish  'cash- 
ier's' two  dollars  a  day,  as  well  as  the  thirty 
cents  of  the  poor  little  girl  who  pulls  threads  in 
an  East  Side  factory ;  and,  if  anything,  the  aver- 
age is  too  high.     Such  as  it  is,  however,  it  rep- 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.    161 

resents  board,  rent,  clothing,  and  'pleasure'  to 
this  army  of  workers.  Here  is  the  case  of  a 
woman  employed  in  the  manufacturing  depart- 
ment of  a  Broadway  house ;  it  stands  for  a  hun- 
dred like  her  own.  She  averages  $3.00  a  week ; 
pays  $1.50  for  her  room ;  for  her  breakfast  has 
a  cup  of  coffee;  lunch  she  cannot  afford;  one 
meal  a  day  is  her  allowance."  The  Working- 
women's  Society  reported  at  a  great  public  meet- 
ing in  New  York  some  three  years  ago :  "  It  is  a 
known  fact  that  men's  wages  cannot  fall  below 
a  limit  upon  which  they  can  exist,  but  woman's 
wages  have  no  limit,  since  the  paths  of  shame 
are  always  open  to  her.  It  is  simply  impossible 
for  any  woman  to  live  without  assistance  on  the 
low  salary  a  saleswoman  earns,  without  depriving 
herself  of  real  necessities.  ...  It  is  inevitable 
that  they  must  in  many  instances  resort  to  evil." 
This,  I  say,  is  the  great  cause  of  the  want  that 
leads  to  evil — insufficient  wages.  And  this  is 
the  great  cause  of  the  ignorance,  too,  that  does 
not  know  how  to  protect  itseK;  for  the  young 
girls  of  New  York  and  other  cities  are  sent  out 
to  work  before  they  have  become  women  and 
learned  of  the  ways  of  life  and  of  their  duty 
toward  God  and  man.    They  are  utterly  without 


162  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

safeguards — often,  indeed,  without  any  instruc- 
tion regarding  the  dangers  of  yielding  to  tempta- 
tion. Girls  should  be  sent  to  school  and  kept 
there  at  least  until  they  are  sixteen  years  of  age ; 
and  in  the  last  years  of  their  school  hfe  compe- 
tent instructors — men  and  women  of  character, 
who  have  taken  degrees  in  medicine  and  philos- 
ophy— should  teach  them  the  things  that  they 
ought  to  know.  And  in  this  instruction  the 
beauty  of  virtue  should  be  dwelt  upon,  and  the 
hideousness  of  vice.  Vice,  stripped  of  its  showy 
robes  and  of  the  mystery  with  which  prudes 
have  surrounded  it,  would  soon  lose  all  attrac- 
tion for  young  women.  And  I  believe  that  if  it 
were  so  exposed  it  would  soon  lose  all  attraction 
for  young  men  too.  Boys  should  be  instructed 
even  as  girls  should  be,  and  they  should  be 
warned  against  the  devices  of  the  "strange 
woman,  whose  feet  go  down  to  death;  whose 
steps  take  hold  on  hell,"  and  exalted  to  care  for 
the  "virtuous  woman,  whose  price  is  far  above 
rubies."  And  above  all,  they  should  be  taught 
that  their  first  duty  to  the  race  is  to  shield  all 
women  from  harm. 

But  before  we  leave  the  question  of  insuffi- 
cient wages,  let  me  say  that  it  is  evident  that  if 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.    163 

this  is,  in  the  last  analysis,  the  thing  which 
pushes  young  women  along  the  road  to  destruc- 
tion, it  is  just  as  much  to  blame  in  pushing 
young  men  the  same  way.  There  is  no  doubt 
that,  for  the  most  part,  if  young  men  could  earn 
enough  to  support  wife  and  family,  they  would 
do  so.  All  men,  except  the  very  few  perverted, 
are  of  a  domestic  disposition,  and  have  enshrined 
in  their  hearts  a  love  of  home,  in  which  some 
woman  shall  shine  as  a  lamp  radiating  light  and 
hopefulness,  routing  darkness  and  despair.  Men 
are  bad  enough,  but  they  are  not  as  bad  as  they 
are  painted.  They  are  as  often  the  victims  of 
evil  circumstances  as  the  makers  of  evil  condi- 
tions. Whatever  may  be  the  attitude  of  the  men 
of  the  Latin  countries  toward  women,  that  of 
the  men  of  America  is  one  of  respect  and  admira- 
tion. Again,  if  men  were  paid  higher  wages,  the 
ignorance  and  want  of  the  women  who  are  paid 
insufficient  wages  would  appeal  to  their  higher 
nature,  and  they  would  respond  to  every  call 
that  was  made  to  protect  and  care  for  the  vic- 
tims of  evil.  "We  believe  that  the  men  whom 
we  call  gentlemen  respond  to  every  such  call. 
I  believe  that  it  is  no  less  true  of  the  men  whom 
we  know  simply  as  working-men.   I  read  to  you 


164  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

one  of  the  six  additions  to  the  platform  of  the 
National  Labor  Union  adopted  since  1868 :  "  Re- 
solved,  That  women  are  entitled  to  equal  pay  for 
equal  services  with  men;  that  the  practice  of 
working  women  and  children  ten  to  fifteen  hours 
a  day  at  starvation  prices  is  brutal  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  subversive  to  the  health,  intelligence, 
and  morality  of  the  nation,  and  demands  the  in- 
terposition of  law." 

Insufficient  wages  I  regard  as  the  primary 
cause  of  the  social  evil,  and  ignorance  and  want 
as  the  secondary.  Yet  there  is  another  cause, 
which,  though  it  does  not  produce  the  evil, 
tends  to  aggravate  it;  and  that  is  the  hardness 
of  heart  of  those  who,  having  never  felt  the 
power  of  these  dreadful  servants  of  Satan,  have 
never  fallen  into  this  social  wrong.  It  is  curi- 
ous how  hard  reputable  women  are  on  the  dis- 
reputable, and  how  seldom  they  will  give  their 
erring  sisters  an  opportunity  of  raising  them- 
selves out  of  their  horrid  condition.  There  are 
hundreds — yes,  thousands — of  women  who  would 
gladly  leave  the  dreadful  life  they  lead,  if  the 
way  of  escape  were  open.  I  know  that  there 
are  rescue-houses  and  the  like,  but  there  are  not 
enough  of  them,  nor  is  there  enough  interest 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.  1(J5 

taken  in  them  by  women  generally.  I  was  told 
not  long  ago  that  the  guardian  of  one  of  the 
houses  of  refuge  in  New  York  had  many  more 
applications  for  places  than  could  be  accommo- 
dated, and  that  again  and  again  God's  children 
had  begged  to  be  permitted  to  sleep  on  a  table 
or  in  a  chair.  We  should  remember  that  though 
a  woman  may  be  one  of  the  victims  of  evil,  she 
need  not,  by  any  means,  be  utterly  bad;  our 
Lord  Himself  said,  speaking  to  the  proud  priests 
and  Pharisees  of  His  day — and  we  who  are  so 
satisfied  with  our  righteousness  might  well  take 
His  words  to  heart — "Verily  I  say  unto  you,  That 
the  publicans  and  the  harlots  go  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  before  you." 

"  Then  gently  scan  your  brother  man ; 
Still  gentler,  sister  woman." 

Yes,  gently  scan  your  brother  man,  and  gen- 
tler, sister  woman ;  "  judge  not,  that  ye  be  not 
judged."  But  whatever  your  judgment  be,  visit 
upon  the  man  the  same  penalty  you  do  upon  the 
woman.  I  am  not  an  admirer  of  the  books  of 
Mrs.  Sarah  Grand,  but  I  am  sure  that  the  princi- 
ple she  has  laid  down  in  "The  Heavenly  Twins" 
is  right. 
But  what  can  be  done  to  remedy  or  narrow 


166  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  borders  of  the  social  evil  apart  from  the  giv- 
ing of  higher  wages  and  of  better  instruction  to 
young  women  and  young  men!  Well,  I  have 
thought  of  two  things.  First,  I  would  advise 
that  all  property  be  held  accountable  for  any 
and  every  unlawful  use  to  which  it  may  be  put ; 
and  that,  when  there  shall  be  found  upon  any 
premises  a  house  of  ill  repute,  a  heavy  penalty 
be  imposed  upon  the  property,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  name  of  the  owner,  unless  he  can  clear 
his  skirts  of  all  knowledge  of  wrong,  be  published 
in  the  newspapers  at  his  expense.  Secondly,  I 
would  advise  the  formation  of  a  company  of 
female  police.  They  should  be  recruited  from 
among  widows  of  a  mature  age,  and  have  the 
same  powers  that  male  policemen  have.  I  would 
not  have  them  carry  weapons,  nor  would  I  have 
them  use  force  on  any  occasion,  but  only  moral 
persuasion.  When  force  should  be  required  they 
should  call  upon  the  men  for  help.  I  believe 
that  a  little  company  of  vigorous,  virtuous  fe- 
male police  would  do  more  in  a  few  short  years 
to  close  up  bad  houses,  gambling-dens,  and  low 
saloons  than  all  the  male  members  of  the  police 
force  have  done  for  centuries.  And  I  do  not 
think  that  this  scheme  is  visionary  and  wild. 


THE   SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.    IQJ 

Women  have  for  many  years  managed  the  re- 
form school  for  women  in  Massachusetts,  and  in 
New  York  it  has  been  suggested  lately,  under 
the  reform  movement,  that  a  woman  should  be 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Department  of  Char- 
ities and  Correction.  The  present  mayor  of  New 
York,  it  is  said,  has  expressed  himself  in  favor 
of  the  representation  of  women  in  the  city  gov- 
ernment; and  if  in  the  city  government  and  in 
the  Department  of  Charities  and  Correction,  why 
not  in  the  Department  of  Pohce !  In  this  connec- 
tion I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that 
one  of  the  greatest  contests  waged  by  the  labor 
associations  with  the  constituted  authorities  was 
over  the  question  whether  women  should  not  be 
appointed  as  factory  inspectors.  Since  the  time 
they  have  been  so  appointed  the  very  best  results 
have  come  from  their  work. 

But  I  must  pass  on  to  an  examination  of  the 
other  great  head  of  the  hydra  of  evil — the  low 
saloon.  And  mark,  I  speak  of  the  low  saloon, 
and  not  of  the  saloon  in  general ;  because  I  think 
that  a  distinction  ought  to  be  made  between  the 
respectable  selling  of  good  liquors,  wines,  and 
beer,  whether  wholesale  or  retail,  and  the  dis- 
reputable selling  of  bad  beer  and  poisonous  bev- 


1(58  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

erages.  Let  us  be  fair:  there  is  no  difference 
between  the  manufacture  and  the  sale  of  liquors 
and  other  beverages,  and  there  is  no  difference 
between  the  selling  of  the  same  by  retail  and  by- 
wholesale.  If  one  of  these  things  be  wrong,  all 
are  wrong.  If  one  be  right,  all  are  right.  Nor 
do  I  see  any  difference  between  him  who  manu- 
factures or  sells  and  him  who  drinks.  Now  I 
maintain  that  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  in- 
toxicants are  not  evils  ]per  se,  but  that  they  are 
likely  to  become  so.  It  is  the  likelihood  of  their 
becoming  so  that  makes  us  to  scan  them  criti- 
cally, that  makes  us  to  restrict  them  more  than 
other  trades  and  businesses ;  for  we  must  under- 
stand that  all  trades  and  businesses  are  under 
some  restrictions  in  every  well-regulated  com- 
munity. I  know  that  when  I  say  that  I  main- 
tain that  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  stimulat- 
ing beverages  are  not  evils  per  se,  1  may  run 
counter  to  the  conclusions  of  the  Committee  of 
Fifty  (of  which  President  Low  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege is  the  chairman),  which  has  lately  been  ap- 
pointed to  study  and  to  report  on  the  liquor 
problem;  but  I  do  not  believe  that  I  shall.  I 
take  my  stand  on  the  common  experience  and 
common  consensus  of  men  of  all  generations, 


THE   SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.    I(j9 

and  on  the  principle  of  the  Church  Temperance 
Societies  of  England  and  America,  which,  though 
they  encourage  total  abstinence,  preach  godly 
temperance.  And  this  stand  I  take  without  ap- 
peal to  the  acts  of  our  Lord  when  He  was  with 
His  friends  and  disciples,  and  to  the  well-known 
advice  that  St.  Paul  gave  to  St.  Timothy.  What 
I  aver  is  that  the  use  of  intoxicants  easily  be- 
comes an  abuse,  and  that,  therefore,  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  thereof  should  be  hedged  in  and 
surrounded  by  every  possible  safeguard. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  manufacture.  And 
here,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  point  of  departure 
for  the  reform  of  the  liquor  and  beer  traffic. 
No  manufacture  of  intoxicants  can  take  place 
to-day  without  a  license  and  the  payment  of 
certain  taxes.  And  the  license  and  the  taxes 
are  right,  but  they  do  not  go  far  enough.  No 
manufacture  of  liquor  or  beer,  or  even*  of  wine, 
should  be  permitted  except  under  governmental 
inspection  and  regulation;  and  the  first  task  of 
the  government  should  not  be  to  get  revenue  in 
taxes,  but  to  see  to  it  that  the  manufacture  of 
intoxicants  is  done  properly  and  with  the  least 
possible  probability  of  harm.  Why,  it  is  the 
present  inspection  and  regulation  of  distilling 


170  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

and  brewing  that  has  made  the  manufacture  of 
whisky  and  beer  respectable  in  the  Dominion  of 
Canada.  At  the  opening  of  the  offices  of  the 
firm  of  Hiram  Walker  &  Sons  last  autumn,  the 
best  and  most  respectable  citizens  of  Ontario 
and  Michigan  were  present.  I  would  have  the 
manufacturers  of  all  sorts  of  intoxicants  put  up 
all  their  products  in  packages,  great  and  small, 
which  should  be  delivered  with  unbroken  seals 
to  the  retail  dealers ;  and  would  permit  the  mid- 
dlemen, under  like  governmental  inspection  and 
regulation,  to  bottle  only  foreign  liquors  and 
wines.  A  great  deal  of  the  present  trouble,  I 
am  told,  comes  from  the  middlemen — the  rectifi- 
ers, or,  better,  falsifiers — adulterating  the  goods 
that  they  buy  or  that  are  consigned  to  them,  and 
in  the  adulteration  making  them  tenfold  more 
deadly  than  they  were.  Again,  I  am  sure  we 
will  agree  that  no  liquors,  wine,  or  beer  should 
be  put  on  the  market  by  the  distiller,  brewer,  or 
wine-producer,  except  such  as  are  absolutely 
pure  and  wholesome,  and  then  only  at  such  an 
age  as  will  make  them  best  for  use ;  and  from 
this  rule  there  should  be  no  departure.  It  is  a 
dangerous  thing  for  men  to  drink  liquors  that 
have  just  been  distilled ;  and  it  is  equally  danger- 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.    Ijl 

ous  to  drink  fresh-made  beer  that  has  to  be  got- 
ten ready  for  the  market  by  the  aid  of  noxious 
chemicals. 

But  how  are  the  governmental  regulations  and 
inspections  to  be  carried  out  ?  Easily  enough :  by 
men  who  have  been  graduated  from  the  best  col- 
leges and  universities  in  the  land,  or,  better,  by 
men  who  shall  have  been  graduated  from  some 
great  agricultural  and  poly  technical  school  to  be 
established  by  the  general  government.  The 
United  States  has  its  school  for  the  army  at 
West  Point,  and  that  for  the  navy  at  Annapolis ; 
it  is  high  time  that  it  established  a  school  of  the 
sciences  in  some  part  of  the  West.  And  such  a 
school,  let  me  say  in  passing,  would  do  a  great 
deal  to  solve  the  important  question  of  civil-ser- 
vice reform. 

But  as  yet  I  have  only  touched  upon  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicants  at  whole- 
sale; for  let  me  say,  I  would  keep  each  branch 
of  the  trade  as  separate  and  distinct  as  possible. 
The  manufacturer  should  be  permitted  to  sell 
either  to  the  middlemen  or  to  the  retailers,  but, 
as  I  have  said,  always  in  sealed  packages;  and 
the  middlemen  should  be  permitted  to  sell  only 
to  the  retailers  or  to  householders,  and  always  in 


172  t.'I'^'IC  CHRISTIANITY. 

original  packages,  except  in  the  case  of  foreign 
goods.  And  both  the  manufacturers  and  the 
middlemen  should  be  prohibited,  under  forfei- 
ture of  their  licenses,  from  having  any  inter- 
ests, direct  or  indirect,  in  any  branch  of  the  busi- 
ness other  than  their  own.  One  of  the  gi'eatest 
sources  of  our  present  trouble  is  that  brewers 
and  distillers  and  middlemen  set  up  men  in 
trade  by  lending  them  money  on  chattel  mort- 
gages and  the  like;  thus  they  get  control  of 
their  businesses  and  force  them  to  buy  their 
stock,  and  often  more  of  it  than  they  otherwise 
would,  thus  forcing  the  retailers  in  turn  to  en- 
courage their  customers  to  drink.  There  are 
several  cities  mth  whose  affairs  I  am  familiar, 
in  the  East,  that  are  controlled  by  the  brewers 
and  distillers  thereof;  and  I  suppose  the  same 
is  true  of  some  of  the  cities  of  the  West.  The 
brewers  and  distillers,  by  the  means  of  which  I 
have  spoken,  get  control  of  the  low  saloons; 
these  low  saloons  get  control  of  their  customers, 
and  conjointly  they  control  the  caucuses  and 
party  politics. 

Now  we  come  to  the  question  of  license,  and 
what  shall  it  be — high  or  low  ?  And  the  answer 
must  be,  it  seems  to  me,  high  license,  but  not  so 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.   I73 

high  as  to  act  as  a  stimulus  to  law-breakers  to 
set  up  illicit  houses.  The  amount  of  license 
should  be  simply  a  guaranty  that  the  dealer 
and  the  land-owner  intend  to  run  their  place  of 
business  legally  and  respectably ;  and  guaranty, 
and  not  revenue,  should  determine  the  amount 
to  be  fixed  for  the  license.  And  I  would  have 
three  licenses  for  the  retail  trade — one  for  beer, 
one  for  wine,  and  one  for  liquors — and  make 
men  take  out  one,  two,  or  three,  and  for  each 
pay  the  required  sum  and  give  the  proper  bond. 
I  would  let  them  run  together  in  some  cases, 
but  there  should  be  no  confusion. 

The  chief  means  of  reform  of  the  retail  liquor 
traffic  which  I  advocate  are  these :  First,  general 
governmental  inspection  and  regulation,  the  same 
as  for  the  manufacture  and  the  wholesale  trade. 
When  any  intoxicants  have  been  tampered  with 
there  should  be  an  irrevocable  forfeiture  of  the 
license.  Second,  I  would  have  the  house  licensed 
as  well  as  the  dealer,  and  for  any  infraction  of  the 
law  and  the  governmental  regulations  I  would 
have  the  license  revoked  both  as  to  the  dealer 
and  the  landlord.  I  would  have  the  alleged  in- 
fraction passed  upon  by  a  competent  court,  and 
its  judgment  to  be  as  irrevocable  as  any  adjudi- 


174  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

cated  case.  Third,  I  would  have  all  public  places 
— clubs,  hotels,  saloons,  and  the  rest — treated 
alike,  and  every  place  closed  punctually  at 
twelve  o'clock  midnight,  and  not  opened  before 
eight  in  the  morning,  and  hermetically  sealed 
on  Sunday,  with  the  exception  of  certain  clubs, 
hotels,  and  restaurants,  which  should  receive 
especial  licenses  for  the  sale  of  wine  and  beer 
only,  to  be  open  during  certain  specified  hours 
in  the  afternoon  or  evening.  Fourth,  I  would 
permit  no  bar  to  be  set  up  unless  a  certain  num- 
ber of  tables  and  chairs  were  placed  in  the  same 
room,  and  provision  made  for  something  to  eat, 
as  is  made  in  Germany ;  and  I  would  permit  no 
flashy  displays  either  inside  or  outside  of  any 
saloon  or  hotel  or  club. 

The  great  aim,  as  it  seems  to  me,  of  the  law 
and  of  public  opinion  should  be  to  make  the 
saloon  as  respectable  as  possible,  and  not  to 
crush  it  down  by  restrictions  that  will  not  be 
followed,  and  that  are  born  of  cant  and  bigotry. 
Frankly,  I  cannot  understand  why,  if  rich  men 
can  have  their  clubs  and  places  where  they  can 
go  and  meet  their  fellows  socially,  poor  men 
should  be  deban*ed  from  the  same  sort  of  places. 
The  poor  have  no  money  with  which  to  erect 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW  SALOON.    I75 

palatial  club-houses,  and  they  have  no  money, 
if  they  cannot  erect  club-houses,  to  go  to  the 
theatre  and  other  fine  places  of  amusement;  do 
not,  therefore,  let  us  make  their  mean  places  of 
resort  worse  than  they  are.  Let  us  lift  them  up 
— ^let  us  help  to  lift  them  up — and  cease  to  play 
the  hypocrite.  Coifee-houses  and  such  like  agen- 
cies are  very  good  in  their  way;  but  I  do  not 
believe  that  there  are  many  whose  dainty  flesh 
quivers  at  the  thought  of  the  low  saloon  who 
would  care  to  frequent  the  coffee-houses  with 
their  smug  air  of  patronage.  The  poor  man, 
shut  up  with  a  wife,  and  generally  with  more 
children  than  the  rich  man  is  willing  to  have,  in 
a  little  narrow  house  or  in  a  few  rooms,  must 
have  some  place  in  which  he  may  meet  his  fel- 
lows. All  places  for  the  sale  of  intoxicants  at 
retail  are  alike  in  character,  and  should  be  re- 
garded alike,  and  should  be  considered  as  alike 
reputable  or  disreputable.  What  is  wanted  is  as 
much  a  reform  of  manners  as  of  the  law.  Let 
men — rich  men  and  poor  men  ahke — learn  to 
conduct  themselves  temperately  in  all  public- 
houses  and  clubs.  Let  them  cease  to  treat  and 
to  be  treated.  Let  them  sit  down  and  drink 
something  while  they  are  eating,  like  civilized 


176  <-'I^^IC  CHRISTIANITY. 

men;  and  not  stand  up  and. gulp  down  a  bare 
drink  like  a  savage.  Above  all,  let  them  agree, 
and  let  them  publish  this  agreement  to  the  world, 
that  for  men  to  drink  intoxicants  during  business 
hours  is  a  sin,  not  only  against  nature  and  mo- 
rality, but  against  common  sense  and  business 
character. 

One  last  word  in  conclusion,  and  I  shall  finish. 
Let  me  say  that  no  laws,  no  regulations,  will  do 
anything  of  permanence  in  eradicating  evils — the 
social  evil,  the  low  saloon,  or  any  other;  such 
laws  and  such  regulations  will  serve  only  to  con- 
trol and  restrict  them,  and  they  will  do  this  if 
they  are  wise  and  do  not  run  counter  to  the 
great  rule  of  common  consent.  The  primary 
appeal  must  be  made  to  the  heart  of  every  man 
and  woman  in  the  land  that  they  each  shall  re- 
solve to  live  the  higher  and  not  the  lower  Hfe ; 
that  they  each  shall  endeavor  to  be  brave  and 
true  and  noble,  and  not  cowardly  and  false  and 
mean.  And  the  secondary  appeal  must  be  made 
to  the  masses  of  men  and  women  collectively 
that  they  all  shall  resolve  to  live  for  the  social 
order  as  well  as  for  themselves;  that  they  all 
shall  determine  to  give  somewhat  of  theii*  time 


THE   SOCIAL  EVIL  AND  THE  LOW   SALOON.    I77 

and  efforts  for  the  common  good  of  humanity, 
at  no  matter  what  sacrifice  of  self. 

And  these  appeals,  need  I  point  out  to  you, 
must  be  based  on  the  one  great  example  of  per- 
fect manhood  known  to  men — on  the  example  of 
Jesus  Christ,  who  partook  of  the  pleasures  of  life 
that  were  innocent,  and  who  denounced  those 
that  were  wrong ;  who  feasted  in  the  company  of 
His  friends,  and  who  fasted  alone  with  His  God ; 
who  was  temperate  in  all  things,  and  whose  tem- 
perance did  not  degenerate  into  weakness ;  who 
did  not  sacrifice  Himself  in  giving  up  the  things 
that  were  right,  but  in  never  yielding  to  the 
things  that  were  wrong. 


XL 

THE  CROSS  THE  RESOLVENT  OF  DrFFICULTIES. 

"  But  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified  unto  me,  and 
I  unto  the  world." — Gal.  vi.  14. 

As  we  go  about  from  place  to  place,  consort- 
ing with  one  or  another  person,  as  we  pick  up 
here  and  there  a  book  and  read  what  this  or 
that  author  has  writteD,  we  are  struck  by  the 
fact  that  a  man's  opinions  depend,  as  a  rule, 
upon  his  standpoint,  and  that  this  is  his  point 
of  view  of  life.  These  points  are :  the  old  Epi- 
cui*ean,  that  which  simply  looks  upon  life  as  a 
something  that  affords  so  many  opportunities 
for  pleasure ;  the  old  Stoical,  that  which  regards 
existence  as  a  dreadful  task,  and  the  accidents 
and  incidents  of  life  as  so  many  burdens  to  be 
borne ;  the  new  utilitarian,  that  which  looks  upon 
life  as  a  something  to  be  used,  and  all  things 
that  come  into  it  as  so  many  ways  of  getting 
on ;  and  the  religious,  that  which  looks  upon  life 
as  the  gift  of  God,  and  all  the  things  of  it  as  so 

17a 


THE  CEOSS  THE  RESOLVENT  OF  DIFFICULTIES.     I79 

many  means  for  the  development  of  character. 
Yes,  right  here  in  this  congi'egation,  I  am  sure 
that  I — that  any  one — could,  after  a  short  ac- 
quaintance with  the  people  composing  it,  divide 
them  into  the  several  classes  I  have  named. 
There  would,  to  be  sure,  be  some  that  could  not 
be  classified — those  who  are  the  mere  flotsam 
and  jetsam  upon  the  ocean  of  society;  but  for 
the  most  part,  the  men  and  the  women  who  sit 
before  me  look  either  for  the  pleasures  to  be 
had,  the  burdens  to  be  borne,  the  things  to  be 
utilized,  or  the  ideas  and  ideals  that  are  God's. 

You  may  read  a  thousand  books,  you  may  con- 
verse with  a  thousand  persons,  and  you  will  per- 
ceive that  all  sorts  of  questions  are  asked  as  to 
life,  its  meaning,  its  value,  its  aim,  its  end ;  and 
to  these  questions  all  sorts  of  answers  will  be 
given.  But  all  these  questions  and  all  the 
answers  thereto,  I  am  sure,  will  be  found  to 
have  relation  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  points 
of  view  of  life  of  which  I  have  spoken.  And 
how  confusing  they  are,  these  questions  and 
answers — the  interminable  discussions  in  regard 
to  life  and  its  issues,  great  and  small!  How 
weary  we  become  of  them !  how  helpless  in  face 
of  them  all!     The  money  question,  the  tariff 


180  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

question,  the  tenement  question,  the  labor  ques- 
tion, the  immigrant  question,  the  agricultural 
question,  the  tramp  question,  the  war  question, 
the  Afro- American  question,  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic question,  the  educational  question,  the  muni- 
cipal question,  the  woman  question,  the  geolog- 
ical question,  the  descent-of-man  question,  the 
inspiration-of- Scripture  question,  the  immortal- 
ity question,  and  a  host  of  others  that  need  not 
be  named — these  and  such  as  these  confront  us 
on  every  side,  and  they  not  only  ask,  but  they 
command,  that  we  shall  consider  them.  We 
may  laugh  them  in  the  face  and  say,  "  What  do 
I  care  for  you  ?  You  are  only  so  many  spectres 
that  men  have  drawn  up  by  the  enchantment  of 
their  intellects  from  a  limbo  as  imaginary  as  that 
which  Shakespeare  places  behind  the  scenes  of 
*  Macbeth.'  I  shall  enjoy  my  life  in  spite  of  you, 
and  drink  of  all  its  pleasures ! "  Or  we  may 
shake  our  heads  and  say,  "  I  see  you,  I  cannot 
help  but  see  you,  but,  as  I  cannot  solve  you,  I 
will  bear  the  burdens  you  cast  upon  me  as  un- 
complainingly as  I  can."  Or  we  may  shut  our 
eyes  and  ignore  them  and  say,  "  I  do  not  want 
to  see  you,  I  will  not  be  bothered  with  you; 
what  I  want  is  to  make  the  best  I  can  out  of  my 


THE  CROSS  THE  RESOLVENT  OF  DIFFICULTIES.     181 

life  in  the  ways  that  strike  men's  admiration  and 
are  called  successful."  Or  we  may  say,  "I  see 
you,  I  think  of  you,  I  do  not  wholly  understand 
you,  why  you  and  such  things  as  you  should  be 
in  the  conscious  life  of  humanity,  yet  somehow 
I  feel  that  you  are  necessary  for  the  intellectual 
and  moral  development  of  the  race.  I  will  try 
my  best  to  get  at  your  meaning."  Yes,  yes, 
whether  we  laugh  or  cry  or  shrug  our  shoulders 
or  look  at  these  questions  with  longing  to  under- 
stand them,  they  and  such  as  they  are  there; 
they  start  up  before  our  eyes  on  every  street, 
from  every  newspaper  and  book  that  we  read. 

My  friends,  I  have  thought  and  pondered  upon 
these  questions  again  and  again  as  I  wandered 
the  past  summer  through  the  older  countries  of 
Europe,  conversing  with  men,  viewing  their 
works  and  reading  their  books ;  and  I  confess  I 
have  been  at  times  much  depressed  with  my  in- 
ability to  solve  them  satisfactorily.  But  more 
depressed  have  I  been  by  the  thought  that  I  was 
placed  here  as  a  teacher,  and  that  I  must  have 
failed  to  give  you  any  clear  light  that  would 
make  their  solution  easier  for  you.  Yet  in  all 
my  perplexity  and  regret  one  thing  has  stood 
forth  in  my  consciousness — the  incarnation  of 


182  CIVIC  CHEISTIANITY. 

the  Son  of  God,  the  crucifixion  of  the  Son  of 
man.  The  cross  of  Christ  seemed  to  come  nearer 
and  nearer  to  my  eyes  and  to  sink  deeper  and 
deeper  into  my  soul,  and  there  grew  up  in  me  a 
conviction — not  of  the  reason  I  had  so  often 
used,  but  of  the  faith  I  had  never  felt — that  the 
cross  is  the  one  thing  in  all  the  world  that  it  is 
necessary  for  men  to  know  and  to  understand; 
that  in  the  knowledge  and  the  understanding 
of  the  meaning  of  Jesus  Christ  crucified  the 
answers  to  all  the  world's  hard  questions  can  be 
given — not  fully,  perhaps,  but  sufficiently  for  the 
daily  needs  of  the  life  of  mankind. 

Yes,  I  am  convinced,  as  well  for  myself  as  for 
you  and  all  others,  that  we  do  not  give  the 
proper  attention  to  the  central  fact  of  God's 
revelation  of  Himself  to  man  in  the  person  of 
His  Son.  We  let  om'  minds  be  diverted  from 
the  crucifixion — that  great  tragedy  of  evil,  yet 
victory  of  love,  that  event  in  which  all  the  inter- 
ests of  the  world  met,  by  which  all  the  questions 
of  mankind  were  answered — and  we  fix  them 
upon  the  things  that  lie  in  the  shadows  of  Cal- 
vary, the  things  that  long  ago  were  put  to  flight 
by  the  outcome  of  its  power.  You  will  under- 
stand me  when  I  say  I  am  convinced  that  the 


THE  CROSS  THE  EESOLVENT  OF  DIFFICULTIES.     183 

cross  of  Christ  solved  all  the  questions  that  had 
arisen,  or  that  could  possibly  arise,  in  the  life  of 
mankind ;  all  questions  of  pain,  all  of  pleasure, 
all  of  duty,  all  of  godliness.  Now  we  may  think 
— ^that  is,  some  of  us  may  think — of  this  in  a 
general  way ;  but  for  the  most  part  men  are  not 
convinced  of  this  thing  at  all,  and  those  who  are 
hold  their  convictions  half-heartedly.  What  we 
need — what  we  all  need — is  to  stand  before  the 
cross  of  Christ,  not  as  reasoners,  but  as  believers, 
and  as  such  to  contemplate  it  quietly,  calmly, 
and  be  still.  Then,  and  only  then,  will  it  strike 
its  roots  downward  and  bear  its  fruit  upward, 
like  all  life.  It  is  an  old  axiom,  but  as  true  as 
it  is  old,  that  life,  as  well  the  spiritual  as  the 
natural,  is  a  matter  of  growth ;  and  this  growth, 
to  be  of  the  highest  form  and  to  bear  the  truest 
fruit,  must  be  constantly  cultivated. 

You  may  say  to  me,  "Do  you  not  aver  too 
much  when  you  say  that  the  cross  of  Christ  is 
the  resolvent  of  every  difficulty  that  can  arise 
in  the  life  of  mankind?"  No,  I  do  not  think  so. 
Take  any  question ;  take  the  general  question  of 
pleasure:  is  it  right?  Certainly,  in  cases  where 
no  sacrifice  of  self  is  demanded ;  but  where  any 
sacrifice  of  self  is  demanded  it  is  wrong.    But 


184  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

who  shall  say  when  a  sacrifice  of  self  is  de- 
manded ?  Jesus  Christ.  But  how  ?  In  the  life 
He  led  that  led  Him  to  the  cross.  Or  take  a 
practical  question ;  take  the  question  of  the  hous- 
ing of  the  poor :  how  should  their  tenements  be 
erected  and  arranged !  Can  we  doubt  how,  when 
we  look  at  the  Saviour  on  the  cross  and  call  to 
mind  the  words  that  He  uttered  just  previous  to 
His  passion  and  death !  "In  My  Father's  house 
there  are  many  mansions:  if  it  were  not  so,  I 
would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you."  Surely  He  did  not  mean  to  go  to  pre- 
pare a  place  simply  for  those  who  live  in  great 
palatial  houses ;  and  if  Jesus  Christ  through  His 
cross  and  passion  went  to  prepare  a  place  in  His 
Father's  house  of  many  mansions  for  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  how  much  more  ought  we  to  pre- 
pare places  for  them  in  the  many  mansions  of 
the  cities  of  the  world !  "  Woe  unto  them  that 
join  house  to  house,  that  lay  field  to  field,  till 
there  be  no  place,  that  they  may  be  placed  alone 
in  the  midst  of  the  earth ! "  For  these,  indeed, 
there  may  be  found  no  places  in  the  many  man- 
sions of  the  kingdom  of  God ! 

Or  take,  again,  the  burning  question  of  the  day 
— the  labor  question ;  and  of  it  the  most  difficult 


THE  CROSS  THE  RESOLVENT  OP  DIFFICULTIES.     185 

of  all  its  many  subdivisions,  the  problem  of 
wages.  How  shall  we  ascertain  what  should  be 
the  proportion  of  the  wage-worker  in  the  profit 
of  production  ?  Let  me  say  that  I  have  consid- 
ered this  question  much  and  long ;  I  have  deter- 
mined that  I  would  come  to  some  conclusion  in 
regard  to  it ;  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  do  so 
as  I  have  looked  at  the  question  simply  from  the 
standpoint  of  reason.  There  is  the  capitalist, 
and  there  is  the  employer,  and  there  are  the  em- 
ployees ;  who  can  say  just  what  proportion  they 
each  should  have  of  the  return  for  the  work 
produced  by  the  efforts  of  all !  We  may  declare 
that  each  should  have  a  fair  return ;  but  what  is 
fair?  The  capitalist  says,  "I  risk  a  great  deal;" 
the  employer  says,  "  I  manage  the  whole  affair ;" 
the  wage-earner  says,  "  I  really  produce  the  re- 
sult." It  is  in  the  cross  of  Christ  alone ;  it  is,  I 
say,  in  the  cross  of  self-sacrifice  alone,  that  I 
can  see  any  solution  of  this  most  difficult  prob- 
lem. Christ  here  tells  men  that  they  should  be 
willing  to  sacrifice  themselves  for  the  good  of 
their  kind.  But  more:  He  shows  them,  as  He 
hangs  there  and  prays  for  His  persecutors,  the 
meaning  of  the  great  words  He  had  previously 
spoken :  "  Go  ye  and  learn  what  that  meaneth,  I 


186  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

will  have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice.''  It  is  not  so 
much  the  hard  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  man, 
rather  is  it  the  tender  mercy  of  the  Son  of  God, 
that  we  perceive  when  we  look  long  and  steadily 
at  Jesus  Christ  crucified.  And  so  we  learn: — 
and  we  can  learn  only  in  the  love  that  was 
manifested  on  the  cross  of  Calvary — the  truth 
we  seek :  that  not  that  proportion  of  the  return 
for  work  done  by  which  men  may  live  is  right, 
but  rather  that  proportion  by  which  men  may 
live  as  men.  When  capitahsts  and  employers 
shall  look  steadily  at  the  cross  of  Christ  they 
will  not  be  content  to  give  their  employees 
simply  a  "  living  wage  " ;  they  will  desire  to  give 
their  brothers  manhood  wages. 

And  mark,  it  is  not  so  much  the  reasoning 
faculty  that  is  brought  into  play  by  the  contem- 
plation of  the  cross ;  the  mind  cannot  always  ex- 
plain the  belief  of  the  heart,  for  the  heart  has 
reasons  of  its  own  that  the  mind  knows  not  of. 
In  the  contemplation  of  the  cross  we  see  its 
deep  significance,  and  we  see  that  its  signifi- 
cance is  broader  and  deeper  and  higher  than  all 
the  thought  of  men,  because  its  height  and  depth 
and  width  are  conterminous  with  the  love  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  His  love  is  the  infinite  love  o^' 
the  eternal  God. 


THE  CROSS  THE  RESOLVENT  OF  DIFFICULTIES.     187 

It  is  in  this  thought — in  this  transforming, 
transcending  thought — that  one  loses  one's  self 
in  the  contemplation  of  the  Crucified ;  but  in  the 
losing  of  one's  self  one  finds  one's  self  again,  for 
one  finds  God,  and  it  is  the  finding  of  Grod  that 
gives  our  lives  their  true  meaning  and  value. 
And  so  I  am  convinced  that  during  the  past 
three  or  four  generations  men  have  been  on  the 
wrong  roads — the  roads  of  deism,  of  positivism, 
of  materialism  and  agnosticism ;  they  have  need 
to  get  off  and  to  shun  these  roads  as  quickly  as 
possible,  and  walk  in  the  way  of  Christ — the  way 
which  led  Him  to  the  cross.  Has  He  not  said, 
"  Follow  Me,"  "  If  any  man  will  come  after  Me, 
let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and 
follow  Me  "  ?  Yet  mark  again,  it  is  not  so  much 
the  words  of  Christ  that  should  be  in  our  hearts 
and  minds,  it  is  the  cross  itself ;  and  so  I  am  con- 
vinced that  we  have-  in  a  measure  done  wrong, 
even  in  the  past  few  years,  since  we  began  to 
study  so  attentively  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
and  the  other  discourses  of  our  Lord.  Surely  we 
should  study  them,  for  they  are  the  life-seeds  of 
the  gi-eat  Sower;  but  greater  than  the  seeds  is 
the  Sower  Himself;  and  greatest  is  that  Sower 
when  He  was  least  in  the  judgment  of  wicked 
men. 


188  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

It  seems  strange  to  me,  when  I  think  of  the 
meaning  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  that  for  so  many 
years  after  the  Eeformation  it  should  have  been 
held  by  so  many  pious  souls  to  be  the  gi'eatest 
emblem  of  superstition.  The  revolt  against  eccle- 
siasticism  must,  indeed,  have  been  tremendous, 
when  it  protested  against  the  highest  and  best 
as  well  as  the  lowest  and  worst  forms  and  repre- 
sentations of  the  faith  ■!  But,  thank  God !  the  ex- 
treme protest  of  the  Reformed  churches  is  dying 
out,  and  with  it  the  change  it  effected  in  men's 
thoughts  of  religion  and  religious  duty.  Calvin 
and  his  followers,  when  they  looked  away  from 
the  cross  and  the  other  emblems  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  looked  into  men's  hearts ;  and  so  they 
endeavored  to  establish  a  rational  basis  and 
philosophy  of  religion.  But  religion — that  is, 
the  revelation  of  God  to  man  in  the  person  of 
Christ^ — though  it  must  square  with  men's  reason 
and  present  many  points  of  philosophy,  rests 
upon  something  far  deeper  and  broader  than  the 
thought  of  man;  it  rests  upon  the  love  of  God, 
which  may  be  comprehended  by  man's  thought, 
but  which  can  never  be  compassed  by  it.  It  is 
no  wonder,  then,  that  when  men's  ideas  of  God 
and  His  ways  began  to  grow  they  quickly  felt 


THE  CROSS  TflE  RESOLVENT  OF  DtFFlCULTlES.    189 

that  the  cardinal  points  of  the  Calvinistic  sys- 
tem— predestination,  effectual  calling,  final  per- 
severance, and  the  atonement  for  the  benefit  of 
a  limited  number  of  the  elect — bound  up  their 
intellects  as  fast  and  as  hard  as  the  shoes  of  the 
Chinese  the  feet  of  their  infant  daughters. 

The  whole  recent  revolt  against  religion  is,  in 
my  opinion,  nothing  more  than  a  protest  against 
a  man-made  theory  of  what  religion  must  be. 
I  am  sure  that  religious  feeling  has  never  been 
deeper  and  truer  than  it  is  to-day.  Never  have 
men  been  more  convinced  of  the  being  of  God, 
and  of  the  necessity  of  knowing  Him  and  of  tak- 
ing Him  into  their  lives ;  never  have  they  sought 
so  persistently  to  base  all  their  actions  as  well 
as  thoughts  upon  the  eternal  law  of  love.  The 
constant  study  of  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  many  books  that  have  recently  been  wi'itten 
thereupon,  is  a  proof  of  what  I  say.  But  a 
stronger  proof  is  the  vast  sums  of  money  that 
have  been  given  to  further  every  cause  of  Chris- 
tian love,  the  many  acts  of  mercy  that  have  been 
done  in  Christ's  name.  What  is  needed  to-day 
is  this:  a  teaching  that  will  take  men's  minds 
away  from  thinking  of  themselves  in  relation  to 
the  Godhead,  and  reverse  their  point  of  view — a 


190  Civic  CHRISTIANITY. 

teaching  that  will  make  them  to  look  upon  God 
and  His  Son  in  relation  to  men;  and  nothing 
will  aid  this  so  much  as  the  bringing  before 
their  eyes  of  the  wonderful  emblem  of  the  cross. 
Therein  we  see  the  unlimited  mercy  of  God; 
therein  we  know  how  He  loved  the  world  and 
mankind.  In  the  bruised  figure  of  Him  who 
was  and  is  "very  God  of  very  God,  begotten, 
not  made " ;  who  came  into  our  world  from  His 
own,  and  was  made  man  for  us ;  and  as  such,  be- 
cause He  would  not  answer  the  foolish  questions 
of  men,  but  showed  us  the  way  that  leads  to  the 
truth  which  brings  with  it  eternity,  was  taken 
by  them  and  nailed  on  the  tree — in  this  figure, 
I  say,  we  have  all  the  light  that  is  necessary  for 
us  to  walk  in,  which  will  guide  our  feet  and  the 
feet  of  all  mankind  into  the  way  of  peace. 

Ah !  my  friends,  I  beseech  you,  fix  your  eyes 
on  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  let  this  be  your 
glory :  that  the  Son  of  God  loved  you,  and  gave 
Himself  for  you.  Then  indeed  will  you  learn  the 
way  to  live  well  yourselves,  then  how  to  live  for 
others ;  for  how  can  you  do  otherwise  than  live 
worthy  of  Him  who  loved  you  even  to  the  death 
of  the  cross?  How  can  you  do  otherwise  than 
love  those  for  whom  Christ  died,  that  He  might 


THE  CROSS  THE  RESOLVENT  OF  DIFFICULTIES.     191 

save  them,  as  well  as  you,  from  the  many  forms 
of  sin  I  And  let  me  say  that  if  you  can,  even  as 
St.  Paul,  understand  the  full  meaning  of  the  cross, 
you  will  quickly  learn  to  sacrifice  the  things  of 
the  world  to  your  love  of  God  and  man ;  quickly 
will  the  things  of  the  world  learn  to  sacrifice 
you — in  which  sacrifices  you  shall  become  even 
as  your  Lord,  an  embodiment  of  love,  and  be  fit 
to  live  in  the  smile  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world ! 


xn. 

NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE. 
"Where  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish." — Prov.  xxix.  18. 

All  the  power,  all  the  capacity  of  man  have 
been  reduced  by  many  of  the  world's  best  think- 
ers to  strength  and  clearness  of  vision.  With 
these  gifts,  it  is  averred,  the  truly  able  man  is 
potentially  able  in  all  directions,  no  matter  what 
may  be  the  field  wherein  they  are  exerted.  This 
power  and  this  capacity  manifest  themselves  in 
various  ways;  but  chiefly  they  take  two  forms, 
according  as  the  man  concerns  himself  with 
things  temporal  or  with  things  spiritual.  To 
many  this  thought  may  seem  transcendental 
and  foolish;  I  do  not  wish  to  beg  the  question 
by  saying  that  these  have  no  vision.  Let  us  see 
whether  the  thought  is  true  or  not,  and  let  us 
for  the  argument's  sake  take  two  examples — the 
example  of  the  building  of  a  house,  and  the  ex- 
ample of  the  upbuilding  of  society. 

How  is  it  in  the  building  of  a  house?    What 

192 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE.  I93 

is  the  first  step  taken  ?  A  plan  is  drawn  by  an 
architect.  But  does  he  draw  it  in  a  haphazard 
way?  No,  he  must  see  the  idea  before  him  be- 
fore he  begins  his  work.  He  puts  it  on  paper, 
it  is  true,  but  he  must  be  able  to  see  it  before  he 
puts  it  there.  He  must  see  the  shape,  the  eleva- 
tion, the  general  effect.  He  puts  his  idea  on 
paper,  but  he  does  this  chiefly  that  there  may 
be  no  mistakes,  and  so  that  others  may  see  his 
plan.  But  the  architect  is  not  the  only  person 
that  must  see  the  house  before  it  is  erected ;  not 
to  speak  of  the  owner,  there  is  the  builder.  The 
builder  must  see  what  the  architect  sees.  He 
need  not  see  with  the  same  strength  and  clear- 
ness of  .vision,  to  be  sure,  but  he  must  see  the 
house,  or  else  he  cannot  build  it.  But  the  builder 
has  aids  and  helps  to  his  vision ;  he  has  before 
his  eyes  the  drawing  that  the  architect — a  man 
of  stronger  and  clearer  vision — has  produced. 

And  so  likewise  is  it  with  sub-builders.  The 
master  workman  assigns  to  his  brethren  of  the 
craft — of  lesser  capacity — certain  portions  of  the 
building  which  they  can  see,  which  are  in  the 
range  of  their  vision.  It  is  only  those  who  have 
no  strength  and  clearness  of  insight  at  all  who 
carry  out  the  work  of  building  foot  by  foot,  day 


194  CIVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

by  day.  These  can  see  the  building  only  when 
it  is  finished;  and  happy  are  they  if  they  can 
see  it  then.  There  are  many  men  who  look  at 
a  building — a  house,  a  church — who  see  only 
bricks  and  mortar  and  what  they  must  have 
cost  in  time  and  money.  The  real  beauty  of  the 
edifice — its  graceful  lines,  its  warmth  of  color, 
its  use,  its  aim — is  entirely  hid  from  them. 

And  so  let  us  take  the  example  of  the  upbuild- 
ing of  society.  Let  us  look  at  the  work  of  an 
economist — and  by  the  work  of  an  economist 
I  mean  all  the  endeavors  of  those  who  have 
wrought  upon  the  structure  of  society,  both 
those  who  have  essayed  to  rebuild  on  the  old,  as 
well  as  those  who  have  essayed  to  build  on  new, 
foundations.  And  let  me  say  that  all  the  phi- 
losophers who  have  not  been  occupied  simply  in 
regarding  the  working  and  development  of  the 
intellect — that  is,  who  have  not  been  simple  psy- 
chologists— come  under  this  head  of  economists. 
I  mean,  all  the  world's  philosophers  who  have  not 
devoted  themselves  merely  to  the  study  of  man's 
power  and  capacity  have  had  as  an  end  of  their 
endeavors  the  upbuilding  of  society. 

Let  us  see  what  have  been  the  great  forces 
(humanly  speaking)  in  the  construction  and  re- 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE.  I95 

construction  of  society.  I  do  not  mean,  of  course, 
in  the  production  of  wealth  and  of  the  means  of 
living ;  I  mean  in  setting  forth  the  best  ways  in 
which  men  should  live  and  conduct  themselves 
in  order  that  they  may  attain  to  their  best  de- 
velopment. Surely  the  great  forces  have  been 
the  men  who  have  had  aims  above  the  utilita- 
rian and  expedient ;  who  saw  through  the  short- 
comings of  the  things  that  were  about  them, 
and  looked  ahead  to  others  that  were  broader 
and  better.  In  other  words,  the  great  forces  in 
the  progress  of  civil  society  have  been  the  men 
who  have  had  strength  and  clearness  of  vision ; 
clearness  to  see  the  dangers  of  the  present, 
strength  to  urge  their  brethren  to  a  higher  and 
better  way  of  living.  And  so  it  has  been :  the 
vision  of  Plato,  the  vision  of  Sir  Thomas  More, 
the  vision  of  Eousseau,  have  been  the  forces  that 
have  opened  men's  minds  to  a  realizing  sense  of 
their  own  defects ;  that  have  made  them  to  look 
ahead  to,  to  strive  for,  better  things. 

I  have  named  the  visions  of  these  men  as 
types,  for  to  their  clearness  and  strength  of  in- 
sight we  can  trace  an  immense  influence  in  the 
upbuilding  of  society  all  along  the  lines  of  his- 
tory; but  there  are  hundreds  of  other  men  of 


196  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

strong  and  clear  vision  who  have  greatly  aided 
society,  not  only  in  their  own,  but  in  all  the 
days  since  they  lived;  who  saw  through  the 
phenomena  into  the  reality  of  things,  and  re- 
ported the  reality  to  us.  Not  to  go  too  far 
back,  let  us  speak  of  the  men  of  modern  times. 
How  much  do  you  think  the  world  would  have 
progressed  this  past  century  without  the  aid  of 
the  visions  of  Wilberforce  and  Carlyle,  of  Keble 
and  Kingsley,  of  Gladstone  and  Tennyson,  in 
England ;  of  Gruizot  and  Hugo,  of  Lamartine  and 
Thiers,  of  Dupanloup  and  Gambetta,  in  France ; 
of  Webster  and  Seward,  of  Lowell  and  Phillips, 
of  Lincoln  and  Grant,  in  the  United  States !  A 
moment's  reflection  will  show  you  that  neither 
the  social  nor  the  political  advancement  of  our 
century  has  owed  anything  to  the  men  who  have 
concerned  themselves  simply  with  the  production 
of  material  things,  but  that  it  owes  everything 
to  the  wisdom  of  the  men  of  vision.  They  have 
furnished  all  the  best  theories  of  government 
and  society.  They  have  settled  the  principles 
of  legislation  and  taxation,  the  ways  of  produc- 
tion and  distribution,  the  laws  of  war  and  of  in- 
ternational comity,  the  aim  of  the  state,  and  the 
best  way  to  secure  the  accomplishment  of  that 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE.  I97 

aim  in  all  its  manifold  forms.  And  why  has 
this  been  so  ?  I  think  we  can  say  because  these 
and  such  as  these  were  able  to  see  through  the 
things  that  surrounded  them — to  see  on  to  a 
higher  and  better  way  of  living;  and  because, 
too,  they  were  able  not  only  to  see,  but  to  make 
others  to  see  what  they  saw.  And  so  can  we 
not  say  that  it  is  literally  true  that "  where  there 
is  no  vision,  the  people  perish"?  An  existing 
state  of  affau's,  with  all  the  abuses  which  creep 
into  it  through  man's  egoism  and  self-seeking, 
would  become  intolerable  unless  there  were  some 
who  could  always  see  out  of  it  a  way  to  a  more 
perfect  state. 

And  as  it  has  been  in  the  past  so  is  it  in  the 
present.  On  all  sides  men  are  arising  and  de- 
nouncing the  shortcomings  of  the  social  and 
political  life  of  the  day.  Never  before  have  so 
many  things  which  seemed  so  satisfactory  to 
the  prosperous  and  negligent  been  banned  and 
anathematized.  We  would  almost  think,  when 
we  read  the  indictments  drawn  by  thinking  men 
and  women  against  this  evil  and  that,  when  we 
hear  the  reproaches  hurled  by  them  against  one 
political  party  or  the  other,  that  every  custom 
and  institution  of  life  had  fallen  into  decay  and 


198  CIVIC  CHEISTIANITY. 

chaos ;  but  a  little  reflection  teaches  us  that  the 
contrary  is  true.  Decay  is  a  mark  of  a  lack  of 
activity,  chaos  of  a  lack  of  thought ;  and  activity 
and  thought  are  the  distinguishing  marks  of  our 
times.  No,  no;  we  hear  and  read  of  the  short- 
comings of  the  day  because  of  the  fact  that 
there  are  men  and  women — ever  more  and  more 
of  them — who  are  beginning  to  look  at  things 
steadily  and  squarely,  and  who  in  so  looking  see 
when  they  are  wrong.  Some  there  are,  indeed, 
who  can  only  see  when  things  are  wrong;  but 
others  there  are  who  cannot  only  see  when  things 
are  wrong,  but  how  they  can  be  made  right. 
Both  the  one  class  and  the  other  do  good;  but 
those  who  can  see  both  when  things  are  wrong 
and  how  to  make  them  right  have  the  strength 
and  clearness  of  vision  that  stamp  them  as  the 
benefactors  of  the  race.  It  has  been  always  so. 
It  was  so  right  here  in  our  own  country  not  many 
years  ago ;  it  will  be  so  again.  The  denunciators 
of  the  day  are  like  those  who  denounced  the 
great  evil  of  horrid  slavery  and  the  things  it 
bred  in  its  festering  sores.  Each  one  did  good 
work  in  arousing  the  moral  sense  of  the  nation ; 
but  they  who  did  the  best  were  those  who  looked 
beyond  the  institution  of  slavery  to  a  realiza- 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE.  I99 

tion  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  under  a  better 
appreciation  of  the  fatherhood  of  God. 

The  evil  of  the  condition  of  the  masses  to-day 
is  analogous  to  that  of  the  slaves.  On  all  sides 
the  rich  are  denounced,  many  rightly,  some 
wrongly;  for  to-day  it  is  the  same  as  it  was  in 
slaveholding  times :  many  rich  men  sympathize 
with  the  low  condition  of  the  poor,  and  try  to 
help  them.  Some  men  are  coming,  some  have 
come,  to  the  front  who  will  be  able  to  see  through 
all  our  present  errors  and  confusions  on  to  a 
better  state  of  things,  on  to  a  further  realization 
of  the  brotherhood  of  man  in  the  kingdom  of 
a  wise  and  loving  Father.  To  their  eyes  has 
come,  or  will  come,  such  a  vision  as  came  to  the 
eyes  of  the  men  and  women  of  a  generation  ago, 
when  one  arose  and  prophesied : 

"  Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord : 
He  is  trampling  out  the  vintage  where  the  grapes  of  ■wrath 

are  stored ; 
He  hath  loosed  the  f atef id  lightning  of  His  terrible  swift  sword ; 
His  truth  is  marching  on." 

But  there  are  other  ways  than  those  I  have 
mentioned  in  which  people  would  perish  if  there 
were  no  vision.  Man  is  a  mixed  creature.  He 
does  not  "  live  by  bread  alone  " ;  he  will  not,  he 
cannot  be  content  simply  by  being  fed  and 


200  CIVIC   CHRISTIANITY. 

groomed  like  sleek  oxen  in  the  stalls.  He  de- 
sires things  that  entertain  him,  as  well  as  feed 
and  clothe.  The  building  of  a  house  and  the  up- 
building of  society,  as  important  as  they  are,  are 
not  sufficient  for  him.  A  social  being,  made  for 
the  enjoyment  of  intercourse  with  his  fellows,  he 
demands  the  things  that  make  for,  that  make  up, 
the  social  side  of  life.  He  must  have  music  and 
painting,  poetry  and  knowledge.  It  may  seem 
strange  to  speak  of  a  musician  as  of  one  that  has 
a  vision ;  but  surely  it  is  necessary  that  a  com- 
poser should  see  into  the  harmony  of  his  theme ; 
otherwise  what  he  produces  will  be  simply  a 
jingle  of  notes,  a  tune  that  will  end  in  fatiguing 
the  ears  of  men.  And  so  of  painting ;  we  might 
think  that  this  would  require,  not  insight,  but 
sight ;  but  unless  the  painter  can  see  beyond  and 
behind  his  objects,  unless  he  can  see  through 
them  to  the  eternal  ideal  beyond,  his  paintings 
are  but  copies.  The  vision  of  the  poet  is  easy 
to  understand ;  every  work  of  his  tells  us  of  his 
visions.  The  poet  is  a  creator,  a  maker  of  bright 
ideals  and  forms  that  lead  our  minds  away  from 
the  dull  clods  beneath  our  feet  into  the  realms  of 
loveliness  and  perfection.  Unless  the  poet  could 
tell  us  what  he  saw  we  should  see  nothing. 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE.  201 

What  shall  I  say  of  the  vision  that  is  requisite 
to  knowledge  ?  "  Surely,"  the  unthoughtf ul  will 
say,  "no  vision  is  necessary  to  the  scientific  man." 
Well,  I  cannot  pretend  to  speak  as  an  authority ; 
but  when  the  apostle  of  the  sciences,  Professor 
Tyndall,  wi'ote  upon  the  use  of  the  imagination 
in  the  development  of  science,  we  can  see  how 
necessary  clearness  and  strength  of  vision  are 
for  the  right  acquisition  of  knowledge.  Indeed, 
a  moment's  reflection  will  show  us  their  neces- 
sity. The  imagination  must  first  catch  at  the 
truth  before  the  experiments  of  the  naturalist 
can  come  in  to  demonstrate  it.  Unless  men  can 
see  behind  what  they  read,  they  read  but  words. 

But  as  yet  I  have  only  touched  upon  my  sub- 
ject. Man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  nor  by 
the  arts  and  sciences,  "  but  by  every  word  that 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  His  vision 
is  contented  neither  with  the  tangible  nor  with 
the  intangible  objects  and  interests  of  the  world ; 
he  will  look  far  above  and  beyond  them  all  into 
infinity;  he  would  behold  the  Creator  of  the 
things  which  he  sees  and  imagines  that  he  sees 
— ^he  would  see  God,  and  he  would  see  God  rul- 
ing in  heaven.  And  so  it  has  come  about  that 
God  has  vouchsafed  to  man  visions  of  Himself 


202  <^IVIC  CHRISTIANITY. 

and  of  His  rule.  But  no  man  has  seen  Grod  as 
He  is ;  aye,  not  even  great  Moses  saw  Him  wholly. 
"For  now  we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly;  but 
then  we  shall  see  Him  face  to  face :  for  now  we 
know  in  part ;  but  then  shall  we  know  Him  even 
as  also  we  are  known."  Yet  God  has  vouchsafed 
to  man  visions  of  Himself  and  of  His  rule  in  an 
especial  way — in  the  way  of  His  only  begotten 
Son,  through  the  veil" of  the  Incarnation.  By 
this  great  and  wonderful  likeness,  through  the 
.perfect  humanity  of  Christ,  can  we  see  God,  and 
know  Him  as  He  is,  and  know,  too,  how  He 
reigns. 

And  thus  it  was  that,  by  glimpses  of  this  great 
revelation  to  be,  the  prophets  of  old  times,  who 
saw  through  the  phenomena  of  the  things  of 
time,  when  they  told  men  what  they  saw  of  and 
how  they  saw  the  Godhead,  foretold  them  of  the 
Christ — they  prophesied  of  Him.  You  see  what 
I  mean :  when  God  revealed  His  glory  to  Moses 
He  covered  him  with  His  hand,  and  he  saw  but 
His  "  back  parts  " — that  is,  he  saw  but  the  things 
that  were  non-essential  and  secondary.  It  is 
true  that  Isaiah  tells  us  that  he  saw  "the  Lord 
sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up,  and 
His  train  filled  the  temple."    But  this  vision  of 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE.  203 

Isaiah,  we  perceive  when  we  examine  it,  was  but 
the  spiritualization  of  the  temple  of  Jerusalem. 
He  saw  the  earthly  temple  reflected  on  high  in 
a  vision,  in  which  the  Shechinah  became  the 
triune  God  seated  on  His  throne.  But  neither 
Moses  nor  Isaiah  could  tell  us  what  it  was  they 
saw  of  God,  even  as  the  Son  Himself  has  told 
us,  "No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the 
only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  He  hath  declared  Him."  The  prophets 
of  old,  I  say,  saw  God,  and  prophesied  of  Him, 
only  in  the  person  of  His  Son.  They  told  the 
people  that  they  should  see  "  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness arise  with  healing  in  His  wings  " ;  that 
"  their  eyes  should  see  the  King  in  His  beauty : 
that  they  should  behold  the  land  that  is  veiy  far 
off."  Ah,  what  a  vision  of  beauty,  of  righteous- 
ness, of  love,  did  these  holy  men  give  us  of  God, 
in  the  person  of  His  Son !  The  vision  is  all  one, 
but  we  can  divide  it  into  many  rays.  Let  us  for 
our  convenience  divide  it  into  the  three  of  which 
I  have  spoken.  Let  us  look  at  the  vision  of  our 
blessed  Lord  in  beauty,  in  righteousness,  and  in 
love. 

And  first  of  the  vision  of  beauty:  it  is  to  be 
remarked  that  the  vision  of  beauty  is  the  uni- 


204  CrvaC  CHRISTIANITY. 

versal  one,  and  that  it  underlies  all  others.  The 
vision  of  those  who  turned  their  eyes  to  the 
external  world,  to  the  arts,  and  to  knowledge, 
soon  showed  mankind  that  there  was  nothing  in 
the  world  that  was  perfect.  Their  experiments 
showed  them,  also,  that  they  could  not  make 
anything  that  was  perfect — neither  a  stone  pyra- 
mid, nor  a  wise  goddess,  nor  a  perfect  social 
order;  that  there  would  always  be  some  defect, 
some  flaw,  in  their  creations.  And  so  they  tried 
to  see  into  the  future,  and  longed  for  the  time 
when  some  one  should  come  who  would  embody 
in  himself  this  great  craving  of  the  soul  for  the 
beauty  of  perfection ;  whose  way  and  word  and 
character  would  be  a  pattern  by  which  men 
should  walk  and  think  and  live,  by  which  all 
the  rough  and  squalid  places  of  the  world  should 
be  made  clean  and  smooth  and  even.  And  thus 
it  was  that  they  foretold  of  such  an  one  to  come. 
We  have  their  prophecies  recorded  in  all  his- 
tory, both  in  sacred  and  in  profane.  The  poems 
of  Virgil,  the  oracles  of  Buddha,  the  psalms  of 
David,  all  tell  us  of  the  perfect  King  to  be.  All 
made  men  to  see  the  Beautiful  One  who  was  at 
once  the  despair  and  the  hope  of  mankind. 
But  to  the  people  of  Israel  alone  was  vouch- 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE.  205 

safed  by  God  a  vision  of  righteousness.  Indeed, 
apart  from  Israel,  righteousness  was  unknown  to 
the  ancient  world.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
the  ancients  had  no  idea  of  justice ;  but  of  jus- 
tice that  was  just  and  true  universally,  they  had 
none.  Neither  had  they  any  idea  of  justice  tem- 
pered with  mercy,  nor  of  that  mercy  that  makes 
for  peace,  which  leads  men  to  holiness,  "  without 
which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."  How  won- 
derful is  the  vision  of  Israel !  "  Mercy  and  truth 
are  met  together ;  righteousness  and  peace  have 
kissed  each  other.  Truth  shall  spring  out  of  the 
earth ;  and  righteousness  shall  look  down  from 
heaven."  And  again, "  The  work  of  righteousness 
shall  be  peace;  and  the  effect  of  righteousness, 
quietness  and  assurance  forever."  And  again, 
"  And  this  is  His  name  whereby  He  [that  shall 
come]  shall  be  called.  The  Lord  our  Righteous- 
ness." 

And  thus  it  came  about  that  as  the  holy  men 
of  old  saw  clearer  and  clearer  into  the  righteous- 
ness of  God,  they  saw  visions  of  His  love ;  they 
saw  those  traits  of  the  Son  of  God  that  make  us 
to  approach  Him  with  reverence  and  with  fear, 
yet  with  trust  and  with  hope.  I  mean  they  saw 
the  humility,  the  patience,  the  long-suffering,  the 


206  CIVIt!  CHEISTIANITY. 

gentleness  of  our  Lord,  and  told  us  of  them.  And 
this  is  the  heart  of  Christianity.  What  would  it 
all  amount  to — the  agony,  the  bloody  sweat,  the 
cross,  the  passion  of  Christ — if  we  did  not  see, 
even  as  the  prophets  saw,  "  searching  what,  or 
what  manner  of  time  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which 
was  in  them  did  signify,"  that  these  things  were 
suffered  for  us  through  God's  love,  that  we  might 
see  and  know  God,  and  understand  His  rule  and 
dominion !  Ah,  beloved,  if  we  should  see  but  a 
fanatic  and  an  enthusiast  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
and  not  Him  "who  in  His  own  seK  bare  our  sins 
in  His  own  body  on  the  tree,"  and  not  Him  "who 
went  about  doing  good,"  and  who  "preached  the 
gospel  to  the  poor,"  then  would  we  be  of  all  men 
most  miserable !  Then  would  there  be  no  vision 
of  beauty  and  righteousness  and  love  in  all  the 
world,  but  only  of  sin  and  wrong  and  suffering. 
Then  would  all  our  aspirations  for  better  things, 
all  our  endeavors  to  build  up  society  in  better 
ways,  be  vain,  and  we  but  as  phantoms  thrown 
against  a  blind  wall.  For  Christ  is  the  Light  of 
the  world,  and  to  Him  alone  must  we  go  for 
light  on  the  questions  of  the  day,  even  as  men 
have  gone  to  Him  for  light  on  the  questions  of 
the  days  that  are  passed.    Without  His  light  we 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE.  207 

would  be  blind  to  the  shortcomings  of  our  times. 
We  would  see  no  ways  by  which  we  could  change 
them  and  make  ready  a  place  for  the  oncoming 
of  the  things  of  better  promise. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  can  look  upon  the 
face  of  the  Son  of  God  and  see  in  it  all  that  the 
prophets  foretold,  all  that  the  apostles  told,  we 
are  of  men  most  happy;  for  we  will  not  only 
see  how  gi*eat  and  comprehensive  is  God's  love 
toward  us,  and  what  it  is  that  He  wills  for  us 
on  earth;  we  will  have  some  idea,  also,  of  the 
"  things  which  He  hath  prepared  for  those  who 
love  Him"  in  heaven.  Happy,  yea,  blessed  is  the 
man  if  the  vision  of  the  love  of  God  shall  open 
to  him  as  he  shall 

"  Gaze  one  moment  on  the  Face  whose  beauty 

Wakes  the  world's  great  hymn ; 
Feel  it  one  unutterable  moment 

Bent  in  love  o'er  him ; 
In  that  look  feel  heaven,  earth,  men,  and  angels 

Distant  grow  and  dim  ; 
In  that  look  feel  heaven,  earth,  men,  and  angels 

Nearer  grow  through  Him.'* 

And  so  the  vision  of  love  expands;  and  we 
have  a  glimpse  of  the  wonderful  extent  of  it  in 
the  gi'eat  revelation  before  which  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple fell  as  one  that  was  dead.    How  transcen- 


208  CIVIC  CHRISTUNITY. 

dent  is  the  vision  of  St.  John  of  the  new  heaven 
and  the  new  earth;  of  the  great  city,  the  holy 
Jerusalem,  descending  out  of  heaven  from  God ! 

"And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth: 
for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  were 
passed  away ;  and  there  was  no  more  sea.  And 
I  John  saw  the  Holy  City,  new  Jerusalem,  com- 
ing down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as 
a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I  heard 
a  great  voice  out  of  heaven  saying.  Behold,  the 
tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  He  will  dwell 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  His  people,  and 
God  Himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their 
God.  And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
their  eyes;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death, 
neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be 
any  more  pain :  for  the  former  things  are  passed 
away." 

"  And  I  saw  no  temple  therein :  for  the  Lord 
God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of 
it.  And  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither 
of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it :  for  the  glory  of  God 
did  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof. 
And  the  nations  of  them  which  are  saved  shall 
walk  in  the  light  of  it:  and  the  kings  of  the 
earth  do  bring  their  glory  and  honor  into  it." 


NO  VISION,  NO  PEOPLE,  209 

Beloved,  let  us  pray  that  we  may  have  the 
capacity  to  see  and  to  know  these  things  that 
we  ought  to  see  and  to  know,  so  that  we  may 
be  able  to  be  good  and  to  make  others  good  in 
our  generation ;  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  help 
on  the  race  of  mankind  to  the  attainment  of  the 
good  "things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  those 
who  love  Him." 


3/ 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


Series  9482 


imSniHl'lfES^  L'BRAfly  FAoi  ,Tv 


A     000  864  076 


